Rise of the Dark Queen
by Captain Planet Apprentice
Summary: AU. Sequel to In Harry We Trust. Please read that before continuing on into this one. Harry and Company begin their sixth year at Hogwarts. Voldemort is now fully out in the open and nothing is as it appears.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Welcome to the sequel to In Harry We Trust. Please read that first otherwise very little of this is going to make any sense whatsoever. That being said, I don't own the characters and even some of the originals came from names that originated elsewhere. Enjoy!

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Sunlight streamed in through the dense green leaves and highlighted the forest floor beneath in an odd glowing green color. The trees were packed together so tightly that only small rays of light were able to penetrate through, illuminating the forest floor and the numerous creatures that scurried here and there away from each other or towards their latest meal. The calm that had afforded in the jungle was just that, complete and utter calm; trees swaying in the gentle breeze while the only real noise to speak of was the movement of the leaves or of the larger animals nearby.

KABOOM! The quiet and peace of the jungle was suddenly broken by the sound of splintering trees and thudding footsteps. Large trunks were flung into the air to smash down to earth taken some of its dead brethren with it, sliding through the meadows and falling endlessly into the nearby cliffs and rivers. Shouts of human voices could be heard now over the large racket as shouts of Latin phrases precluded flashes of different colored lights.

The crashing was getting closer now as the trees were continually flung out of the way, clearing a large path for a massive creature. The leaves and bushes broke apart as two men in black cloaks ran past the pristine clearing and made a break for the nearby tree line like the devil himself were on their heels. Breaking through the trees the two men continued to run, shouting at each other as they did.

"I told you to take a left, not a right! This is your entire fault, you know!" One of the figures yelled to the other as they ducked a series of branches, a few scraping past and taking fabric with them.

"My fault! You're the one that starting shooting first without even thinking about it!" His shorter companion dodged as a massive tree trunk flew over their heads to crash down a few hundred feet in front of them. The pair changed directions, sprinting off into the dense jungle still together.

"What's there to think about?" He ducked and maneuvered around a large stump continuing to sprint into the heavy foliage.

"It's a riddle, you idiot." Another tree trunk slammed into the ground nearby, throwing the man forward. His partner helped him to his feet as they continued on. "If this is what he had in mind, then I'm going to turn myself in as soon as we get back."

"Travel the world…meet interesting people…purge our world of those unworthy….no one ever says we're going to be chased through an unknown jungle, and possibly eaten by…" He was cut off as another large mass of tree slammed into a nearby patch, ripping them all up by the roots.

The two men shared a brief look before sprinting down a large hill towards a small valley. Nestled in the valley was a pristine looking river that offered a great view of the mountains around them; as the water meandered through the valley it ended in a large ford that would later empty out into the much larger ocean several miles away. The pair were aiming for a pillar of smoke that was coming up from the nearer side of the river, but from this distance it was still hard to discern what it really was, but the men didn't care if it was only a boat so long as it moved faster than what was chasing them.

As the men broke through the jungle the creature behind them roared fiercely, letting everyone in the ten mile radius know that it was royally pissed. The men barely stopped to think as they continued to sprint through the packed jungle; jumping over branches, ducking tree roots and dodging around less volatile animals. They didn't care if they ran straight up the throat of a smaller predator, so long as it got them away from the larger one chasing them.

The pair broke through the final clearing to see the shores of the river with a small building sitting near the water's edge; it was a one story cabin made of wood with two small square windows that looked out back the way they had come. There was a short dock that came out into the deeper section of the river, but there was no boat moored at the dock. Pausing only briefly the pair rushed to the door of the building and dashed inside, locking the door tightly.

"Like that's going to stop it. Where's the bloody portkey?" The larger of the two split off and started searching the dingy room that they had entered. The cabin had been sectioned off into various rooms by half-wall dividers that still offered views of everything going on within the rest of the cabin. Currently it appeared to be abandoned, but with a fire roaring in the nearby stone hearth and not a speck of dust on any of the furniture.

"He's not going to be happy if we come back empty handed, you know." His partner split off to the other side of the large room searching under and around various things with his wand. Flipping the piece of wood in a complicated fashion on each item he came near he groaned and moved on to the next before moving to the next wall.

"I don't care, _he_ is much better than that thing out there and that is really saying something." The other man was answered by a roaring sound that seemed to be getting closer. They shared a brief look and then started searching faster, upturning the furniture and pulling everything out of the drawers that they could find.

"Daryl….Steve…Puff?" The smaller one kept muttering under his breath as he moved around still scanning with his wand.

"Shut up and just find the damn thing, we're going to be killed any second and you're still working on that stupid riddle." The larger man finished his half of the cabin and started searching the other half as well, overlapping with his partner.

"I'm telling you that the answer is there, we just need to figure it out. I wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing; although my current actions seem to suggest otherwise. How do we know if this is the right tomb anyway; it could be any number of them?"

"He was certain this was it."

"Then why did he send us?" The smaller exclaimed as he grabbed a pot off the top of the mantle. "Screw this; I'm using the floo to get out of here. It's not here, let's just go somewhere else, anywhere is better than here."

"The floo can be tracked, you know that. Our contact said…" The larger started, still scanning around until a large tree trunk slammed into the cabin. The trunk pierced the roof and tumbled through the far wall, splitting it in half with most of it falling backwards into the river.

The two men rushed to both of the windows on the near side of the cabin to the clearing that they had just run through. Each took up a window and stared out at the tree line several hundred yards away. They could just barely make out a black shape moving between the trees almost as if it was uncertain to venture into the sunlight. A single large foot protruded from the trees and into the sunlight. The skin was scaly and mottled in grey and green spots here and there; the whole foot about the size of a good sedan with three toes each capped with a razor sharp claw. The foot retracted slowly just as another tree sailed over the line and took out the other half of the far wall exposing the house to the river now.

"Destination, Desire….damn what was the rest of that." The younger man kept talking to himself as the older rushed over to the hearth and threw in some green powder from the pot on the mantle. The flames glowed green for a second and then flickered before changing back to normal.

"I've tried the floo and there's no portkey. Our only shot is apparition, but I have no idea where we even are. Our contact was supposed to provide a way in and out." The larger, older, man stood straight up and joined his companion at his window, staring across the clearing at the trees.

"We're going to die here man, we're going to die!" The smaller man clutched at the other's shoulders. "I never even got to tell her I love her. Oh God, we are going to be torn to shreds and eaten!" He cried to the heavens before his companion slapped him a little too hard, knocking him into the wall.

"We're not going to die if we both stick together and remember our training."

"What training? All they ever told us was 'point and shoot', oh and to run away if the Aurors show up. Honestly, you'd expect a pureblood supremacy movement to be more organized, but oh well."

"You know, you're right. I always figured we would be learning advanced spells and things to use on our enemies, but it's always the same stuff. Unforgivables this and Unforgivables that…." They were interrupted by a rather fierce roar that came over the clearing as the dark shape started to move into the sunlight. Not spending any time at the windows the two rushed to the middle of the cabin.

"I don't care where we end up, anywhere is better than here." The older man moved to grab the younger by the arm intending to disappear together.

"Wait, what about splinching?" The younger man still moved to grasp the other's arm even as he asked his question.

"Who cares? If we loose an arm or a leg maybe they'll let us sit out the next raid, at least we'll still be alive. Now then, where should I aim for?" The older seemed to be in deep thought even as the thudding of large footsteps was coming closer.

"Anywhere, Anywhere! Send us to Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic, Albus Dumbledore's bath tub, I don't care." The smaller man was now openly sweating, holding onto the arm even more.

The large thudding footsteps seemed to be gathering momentum and they both knew that with the size of the creature it wouldn't take long to traverse the small distance and be upon them. Indeed shadows were already being cast over the small cabin by the much larger form that was starting to loom over it. The holes in the roof from the massive trees that had been thrown through it offered the first glimpse of the creature up close, the stone colored jaw that dripped drool from massive sized teeth as it opened the jaws to swallow the two men whole.

Screaming like little girls the two men clutched at each other as the creature moved in for the kill. At the last possible moment the older twisted slightly and the pair of Death Eaters vanished from the spot leaving a small piece of fabric, part of an eyebrow, and the distinct stench of urine behind them. Snapping its jaws closed around air now the creature bellowed in anger at the loss of its meal, but it slid out of the cabin and started off back through the jungle towards where it had started.

As the creature moved away the boards and planks of the cabin started to reform. The outer walls pulled itself out of the river and melted seamlessly back into the mold of the rest of the cabin. The holes in the roof slowly reformed like a wound closing up, sealing slowly and then leaving a completely unblemished polished wood behind. Finally within the cabin the furniture righted itself, the drawers slowly pulling themselves together as the cabin was reset back to what it had been before. A fire still glowed in the hearth with a solid column of grey smoke that curled up from the chimney. The silence of the jungle was restored once more, as the creature moved back to its slumber and sanctuary.


	2. Chapter 2

"Your move." The small ivory rook slid up a few spaces and rested just next to an obsidian knight.

"Are you going to be this predictable the entire time?" An obsidian pawn moved forward on the other side of the board to challenge an ivory pawn.

"Hey, I'm not the one with the ability to see the future, so stay out of my head." An ivory knight moved forward, claiming one of the obsidian pawns.

The board that the two men were playing on seemed to hover between them and then rested on a large pedestal for a moment as the chairs formed between them. It had been a while since either had enjoyed a game of chess and it was interesting for the two to sit with one another and simply enjoy the game. Harry stared at the board in concentration, not even looking at his white robed male companion as he considered each of the moves that he could make. Unlike when he would usually play with Ron, he actually cared about this game and was having fun simply figuring out how this man played.

The game had started as a way of getting into an easy conversation with the older man that was seated across from him, but after a while Harry learned that he was rather enjoying himself. The old man wore pure white robes with several layers of draping and a manicured white beard that bristled around his chin hiding his neck. He held his cool green eyes on the chess board as Harry reached out and pushed one of his bishops up to challenge his king.

"Check. I hope that I didn't cause any problems between you and your wife earlier." Harry kept his eyes on the chess board as he spoke, as both understood that it was not meant out of disrespect.

"Of course not, Harry. We have come to an understanding over the years. She has her projects and I do not interject myself into it." He slid the rook to intercept the bishop, making the piece vanish from the board.

"Although I will hazard a guess that you know what's been going on all along." Harry slid another piece across the board and a rook disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

The old man chuckled as a piece moved on the board on its own, making another vanish. "Yes, not much does escape my notice. I let my wife have her fun though; she knows enough of what I've done in the past."

"Yes, I seem to remember her cursing a cow at one point." Harry smiled. The easy banter was not meant to offend the other, simply used as a means of conversation that the two had easily fallen into.

"Now that was a simply misunderstanding, I'll tell you." The old man slid another piece over the board, not really caring now that the board was dominated by ivory pieces and the obsidian ones were disappearing faster.

"I did have a question, more like a curiosity, that your wife and daughters were never able to answer for me." Harry slid an ivory pawn up the board to challenge the obsidian queen.

"My wife did mention that you might have a lot of questions regarding your destiny and such, so ask and I will answer what I can." The obsidian queen slid up the board and an ivory pawn vanished from the board.

"It was once said that Merlin was the greatest wizard alive, was he one of your special projects as well?" Harry slid a bishop into place and waited for an answer. He leaned back in the chair and stretched his arms over his head.

"He was one of mine, actually. Both Fate and Destiny thought that he would have a large role to play in the formation of the world and so he was taken for training." The man made his remaining rook slid up the board and takes another pawn.

"When do you suppose I'll get training as well?"

"You already have everything that you could possibly need; you just don't know it yet." The old man looked up from the chess board and over towards his left. "I need to go as do you. Oh…Checkmate."

XoXo

Harry felt slightly annoyed at the old man for getting the better of him as he felt the world around his swirl into nothing and then he could feel things again. He could feel the cool glass under his cheek that he had been laying down on, he could feel the frantic hand on his shoulder as it shook him harder with each passing second, and he could finally hear his name being called out as if from very far away.

"Harry!" The voice got closer with each call until it seemed that it was right next to his ear and yet still yelling. "HARRY!"

Jerking awake his wand came into his hand as he pushed up from the window and got a quick look around the compartment. The first thing he realized was that a girl was hanging upside down in front of him attempting to keep her skirt from flipping up over here head. The redhead looked rather cross with him as she glared down at him from her position, but she wouldn't say anything else. The other occupants of the compartment, now that he could see, were snickering softly into their hands. He noticed a few people missing, but figured they were off visiting with other friends and the such; those left in the compartment were the three Black girls, one of them upside down, and Luna.

"Put me down, this instant." Rachel roared and Harry was all too quick to let her gently down back to her feet.

"It's what you get for startling him like that." Luna smiled and her voice lost the usually present dreamy quality to it.

Rachel marched over to Harry standing over him with her hands outstretched. She seemed ready to harm him, but he smiled when he noticed a slight twitch to her eye and the calm breathing suddenly getting a little faster. As he watched her she groaned and forced her legs closed as she went to go sit down next to her sister. He raised an eyebrow a little as the rest of the compartment dissolved into giggles and open laughter. Once everyone had had their fill of laughing at Rachel, Harry turned to Luna to get a few answers.

"Where did the rest of the girls go?"

"Oh, Hermione went to the prefect meeting, Lavender and the Patils went off to find their own friends. They did say that they would be back though once they found the time." Luna twirled her wand expertly between her fingers while she was reading an article in _The Quibbler_. It always amazed Harry that she could do so many things at once and still hold a decent conversation.

"It feels weird, being on this train and sitting here. The last time I was on this train was as an Auror, and now I'm a student." Cassie stared in wonder around the compartment and then out the window silently.

"Oh, I hope everything is going to go all right." Claire wrung her hands sitting between her two new sisters. Rachel gently put a hand on her sister's shoulder as Harry came to kneel before all three of them.

"Listen, I pledged that I would protect all of you and I will do what I can." Harry looked from each of their eyes, making sure that he had their attention. "You sacrificed a lot, you three, so that you can come with us, but I'll be sure to make it up to you."

Luna smiled as she watched the exchange between Harry and the other girls. When he had moved from the bench near the window, she couldn't help but peek around the edge of her magazine and watch them. As Harry leaned in to hug the girls Luna tossed aside the magazine and made a jump into the pile, hugging all four of them at the same time, and sending them crashing down to the floor of the compartment laughing hysterically.

The door to the compartment slid open suddenly, causing the four people on the floor to freeze in anticipation. This had the added embarrassment of causing Harry to be at the bottom of the pile of girls with Luna's hand wound in the dark red hair of Rachel and her hand on Claire's thigh. The girls all looked up to the unexpected visitor hoping that they wouldn't start a rant immediately and allow them to right themselves. Thankfully, for everyone, the visitor was their bushy brown haired companion.

"If you four were going to have a nice little tickling session, then you should have waited for me." The sixth year prefect and shoe in for Head Girl locked the compartment door and jumped on the top of the pile, getting tangled almost immediately in someone's robes.

It took several more minutes before everyone was able to situated themselves back on the benches as well as untangle various articles of clothing. Somehow, and no one was going to admit to it, Hermione's robes had been tangled in Luna's foot, causing the blonde to fall down on top of her when Hermione tried to stand up. This also had the added effect of causing the cat-girl's tail, still hidden under complex disillusion and glamour charms, to slide along the blonde's thigh, eliciting a moan and a quick blush from both girls.

The others laughed at the embarrassment of the two, but quickly untangled everyone to sit back down on the benches that had lined the compartment. Just as everyone was starting to get settled in there was a tentative knock on the glass of the compartment. As the person nearest to the door, Harry moved to open it and received a shock as he looked at the person on the other side.

Draco Malfoy was always one to pride himself on his appearance and his outward show to the rest of the students and to the public at large. Standing on the other side of the compartment door was not what Draco Malfoy would have normally portrayed to anyone, not even his mother. His face was haggard with bags under his eyes and his hair seemed to be messed up quite a bit and even his robes were crumpled in places and pushed off to the side. Harry was so speechless when he opened the door that it took him a moment to realize that Draco was waiting for something.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked tentatively to the blonde before him.

"Potter, I need to talk to you about my mother." Draco's voice sounded horse, like he hadn't used it in years. Perking up at the sound of her son's voice, Harry could feel Claire move towards the door only to be held back by her sister with a firm hand; this was something they had talked about and tried to anticipate beforehand, but it was hard when the evidence was staring them in the face.

"Of course, Draco, please do come in." Harry stepped aside for the other boy to enter the compartment. If Malfoy hadn't of been in such a state he might have commented on the use of his first name and the fact that his arch nemesis had invited him in.

As Malfoy slumped down onto the bench next to the door he didn't seem to notice the shocked looks on the other girl's faces; in fact he seemed to barely notice that there was anyone else in the compartment at all. Luna and Hermione calmly slipped out of the still open door heading down the corridor telling Harry in whispers that this was more a family matter and they would just get in the way. Cassie tried to leave, but Rachel grabbed her hand and pulled her down to the bench next to Claire to hold the shaking girl. For his part, Harry moved to sit next to the blonde and to let him speak rather than forcing the issue.

"I never realized that running a family could be so much work. I haven't slept or eaten much in the past month and when I finally take a break I realize that I had forgotten all about my mother." Draco sighed heavily and collapsed back against the side of the compartment, groaning as he stared up at the ceiling. "What kind of son am I? I forgot everything about her from when the goblins told me that I had to manage the estate and take care of the rest of the family members."

"Draco, you had a lot put on you so quickly that I'm sure that anyone would have buckled under the pressure. All things considered you've held up remarkably well." Harry smiled as he put a tentative hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"How do you do it, Potter? By all intents and purposes you're the head of two families and don't nearly look as bad as I do." Draco chuckled slightly.

"Hey, one family I'm the only one left of and the Blacks pretty much manage themselves and as long as they're not killing each other I'm good." Harry tried to keep the pointed look away from Rachel, but she still looked saddened by what he had said. As a show of strength Harry reached over and gently took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze as he turned to address Draco again. "I'm sure that you're mother will be proud of you and what you've accomplished in a short amount of time."

"Do you know where she might have gone? The last time I saw her was at the will reading, and I've been so bogged down in family requests and payments and such that I haven't been able to send her an owl." Draco looked imploringly towards his formal rival and enemy, missing the look of intense pain that crossed one of the girls that was seated across from him.

"I think that I might know of way to get a message to her, Draco, but what would you want to say?" Harry was trying to get Draco to say something specific so that both people could help to move on from their past, but whether or not the boy would admit it was another issue.

"I don't really know. I had been so focused on simply finding her that I never thought about what I would actually say to her when I found her." He ran a hand through his hair and tried to straighten it out as he laughed again. "Look at me, a pureblood at a loss for words."

"Why don't you just say something from the heart, something that your mother would never expect coming from you?" Harry felt a reassuring squeeze from Rachel's hand that he was doing the right thing.

"I suppose I would tell her that I love her, and that I would not be joining any dark forces anytime soon. Gods, listen to me, whining to you like one of your Gryffindor friends." Draco ran a hand through his hair once more. "After seeing the drain on the family from what father had done, I have no intention of giving away our fortune to the Dark Lord anymore; I've decided to finally follow the family motto."

It was as if it was all planned out and well choreographed as Rachel lost her hold on her sister, Claire launched herself across the compartment and slammed into the confused blonde boy, sobbing into his chest, the entire time whispering. "My poor poor boy, mummy is here for you." Harry did his best to support Claire, gently patting her on the shoulder.

The action took less than a few seconds to complete, but it was still going on several minutes later when Draco had successfully rebooted his brain. He wasn't completely sure why a girl with blonde hair was crying on his shoulder or why the girl seemed to be saying that his mum was going to be fine. He rather enjoyed her being so close to him, the feeling of her body against his was rather nice until what she was saying registered in his head, and then he started to push her away.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Draco held the sobbing girl at arm's length and stared at her for a moment, doing a few double takes between her and Harry. "Potter, what the hell did you do to my mother?"


	3. Chapter 3

Draco flicked his eyes back and forth from the dirty blonde girl next to him and the boy across from him. The girl was demure and a slight blush to her cheeks as she stared down at the floor of the compartment. He seemed to have forgotten there was anyone else in the compartment as he only had eyes for the two of them. He flailed his arms for a moment in dull comprehension as to who the pretty girl sitting next to him really was.

"I…you…she….mum?" He stuttered for a moment as he tried to find the right words to describe just the way he was feeling at the moment. Harry, for his part, wasn't going to help the blonde out, but decided that maybe he could lead him in the right direction.

"I suppose genetically she's still your mother, but right now you two look more like siblings." At this both of the people in question gave him identical death glares. "You even glare the same." This of course dissolved both him and Rachel into laughter as the other two blushed horribly.

"Ok, Potter, explain to me what happened here and use small words, I think my brain just overloaded." Draco waved a hand in the air, closing his eyes tightly as if he could will everything to just be gone and for the world to go back to normal.

"I guess the simplest explanation is that she owes me her life and I decided to use an obscure ritual to return her to her teenage body so that she could live her life for real this time." Harry smiled as he tried to follow his own explanation and realized that it was a little convoluted even for him. "What it boils down to is magic."

"You know, Potter, with that kind of power, you could live forever. And if anyone else got a hold of that ritual.." Draco seemed to have recovered from most of the shock, but he was still refusing to look at the girl next to him. Harry shook his head to help out the other boy.

"No, it's a one time deal. It can only be performed under certain conditions and by the head of the house of Black, which I currently am. Not to mention the power requirements." Harry smiled inwardly as he heard the laughter of female voices in his head, but ignored it so that he didn't look insane.

"You mean to tell me that I'm going to be going to school with my own mother now?" Draco looked thunderstruck as he sunk back into the bench and then groaned. "You were in Slytherin before to, oh this is going to be bad."

"Don't forget about the fact that she's a teenage girl now. I think that would mean a little dating." Harry smiled as Claire turned her face away to try and hide the serious blush that spread over her whole face at the mention of dating. Her sister had seen it and snickered a little at the thought of her sister trying to get back into the dating scene again.

"Oh, god! I had completely forgotten about that. Between my own mother being at Hogwarts and that cow Parkinson, I'm never going to get another date ever." Draco had picked up on a part that Harry hadn't considered; and completely left out, or did not realize that his mother would also be dating.

"I hadn't thought of that." Claire tapped a delicate finger to her lips and a small teasing smile came to her lips that Harry and the other girls knew all too well. "Oh, Drakie, it'll be great, we can all go out on double dates together." She squealed and clapped her hands together bouncing in her seat.

Draco seemed to pale even further at the prospect of not only his mother dating, but having to see it first hand. "Merlin, I think I need a drink." He put a hand to his forehead and Rachel felt sorry for her nephew. She conjured up a glass and a bottle of amber colored liquid; after pouring three fingers worth of the liquid into the glass she shoved it into his hand.

Draco took the drink without thinking and downed it quickly, already forgetting that his mother was in the compartment with him. He didn't seem to notice anything by the glazed look in his eyes after taking the sip, but he seemed to refocus on the cute girl next to him that had handed him the drink. He gave her a soft smile and then checked her out quickly, downing the rest of the drink quickly.

"Hello, I don't think I've had the pleasure. Name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Malfoy was as smooth as he could be as he took the hand of Rachel and kissed the back of it, not hearing the snickers coming from the other occupants of the compartment.

"Such a charmer, don't you think." Claire smiled from behind her son's back, giving thumbs up to her sister.

"I don't remember Lucius being this good when we first met him." Rachel pulled her hand out of Draco's grasp and stared at him in the eyes, waiting for the sign of recognition; although it still didn't come he seemed to be rather enamored with the new girl.

"I had to train him, the sneaky bastard, after we got married. He passed on some of the charm to our son here." Draco blanched at the reminder that his mother was sitting next to him so he downed the rest of the drink in his hand.

"Yes, I do seem to remember long nights attempting to make him talk correctly. He was good when we were at Hogwarts, but not that good." Rachel smiled and patted Draco on the back. "You got the best from both parents, if you can believe that."

"You knew father in school, and mum…soo….oh Merlin. Whom did I just flirt with?" Draco put his head in his hands as some sign of recognition came to his eyes. He looked between Rachel and Claire and moaned in pain. "Aunt Bellatrix?"

"Oh, he is good, now do me!" Cassie bounced from her seat on the floor and raised her hand high in the air. Draco stared at all three girls and groaned even more now.

"I hit on my own aunt. And I guess you would be Aunt Andy as well, just to round out this miserable experience." Cassie shook her head and caused her spiky black hair to flash green and then back. "That's worse, cousin."

"How's that?" Harry still was trying to hold in the majority of his laughter, but it was getting harder by the second.

"With her here, I'll never know what girl I'm really flirting with. I could be flirting with a cute blonde from Hufflepuff and find out that it's really my cousin in disguise." At this of course caused the entire compartment to fall over laughing hysterically. "It's not funny, you four, all of this combined is going to kill my romantic life."

"Draco…" Claire regained her composure slightly and sat down next to her son, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, son, we'll help you find a good witch, won't we?" Her eyes pleaded with the rest of her weird family and they nodded, even Harry.

"Although, what Draco said does give me an interesting idea…" Harry smiled wickedly as he leaned forward to outline a small plan that he had been cooking up while on the train.

XoXo

Some time later, during the middle of the journey, a somewhat more put together Draco left the train compartment and made his way up the aisles towards the prefects carriage. The main meeting had already taken place, but he knew that he would be needed before too long. As he neared the end of the aisle he noticed a bushy haired girl waiting outside the girl's toilet closest to an empty compartment. He moved closer and saw the blonde Ravenclaw come out of the toilet, smile to the other girl and the two came towards him.

"Granger, Lovegood, I need to talk to both of you." Draco said in a soft and almost submissive voice.

"Why should we-" Hermione started only to stop by a hand on her arm from Luna next to her whom moved to stand between the two.

"Draco, you've hurt all of us in the past. Apologize and we'll talk." Luna kept her somewhat dreamy nature, but it was a little softer and more serious than the blonde had ever heard come from her.

"I'm sorry. I came down here to talk to you two about this upcoming year. I've already met your….friends." He groaned at the word and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other before pulling the door to a nearby empty compartment open and held it open for them.

"All right, we'll give you a few minutes, but don't try anything." Hermione nearly growled as she and Luna swept into the compartment to be followed by Draco himself.

This small interaction, small on the scale of the rest of the train, did not go unnoticed by Head Girl Cho Chang. She had been following Luna and Hermione to find out where Harry's compartment might have been, but so far they had simply been wandering the aisles. Now she groaned and cursed herself as she walked swiftly past the compartment with the strange trio and heading up the train to find the boy of her dreams the old fashioned way. Peeking into each of the compartments window she used her status as Head Girl to wave off any complaints.

As she made it up the train she saw a few things that revolted her and a few that confused her. Sitting in one compartment were the Patils with Brown, as usual, but there were two boys with them as well holding hands. That is to say the boys were holding hands, together, not with any of the girls. She passed this compartment quickly and moved on to the next.

It took her nearly twenty minutes, but finally she saw the object of her affections reflected in one of the windows. The teenage wizard seemed to be slumped against something asleep, his glasses pushed away from his face slightly and his hair as messy as ever. She came closer to inspect what he was leaning on and stifled down a gasp as she looked into the window of the compartment. Seated there in the middle of the bench was indeed Harry Potter, the problem were the two things on either side of him.

After Draco had left the compartment, Harry got sleepy and told the girls that he was going to take a nap. Seated as he was on the bench Claire moved to sit next to him and he rested his head on her shoulder. Before Cho showed up for her inspect, Rachel had moved to the other side of Harry and leaned her head on his, soon dozing; her sister had long since fallen asleep as well with her arms around the teenage wizard between them.

It was this scene, two witches on either side of Harry that Cho witnessed and seemed enraged by it. Technically there were no rules as to what was going on, indeed she had seem a few naked butts as she patrolled the train opening doors and having to profusely apologize to their inhabitants, but this was her Harry sandwiched between two witches. She stared at the scene for a moment, huffed and then stormed back up the train towards her own compartment, never seeing the black haired girl on the other bench snickering as she went past.

The dark haired girl buried her laughter behind a book as she sat across from the three people in question and watched the Head Girl disappear back down the train. She wondered if there would be more visitors like that and figured she might want to sell tickets to the event. She gave a small giggle as she tried to keep her mind off of the fact that both her aunts were now trying to snuggle up to the cute wizard between them. Giving up on trying reading she moved and pulled the curtains on the window of the door and lay down on the bench herself to get some rest. There was no point in staying awake if everyone else got a little rest themselves.

XoXo

The rest of the journey to Hogwarts passed in relative calmness for the friends. They were forced to expand their compartment several times when everyone decided to drop by at the same time; even bringing a few friends along with them to meet Harry and the three new Black girls that were going to be starting the year with them. No one said anything about the girl's heritage or resemblance to their distant cousins that were now classified as missing, but the girls kept the conversations away from those facts and light enough that everyone had a good time.

Being the other sixth year prefect for Gryffindor, it was inevitable that Hermione would have to interact with Ron. He made a complete fool out of himself by presuming that she was still not talking to Harry with him and seemed to ignore everyone else on the train. His smooth moves, usually involving him tripping or otherwise falling into Hermione, left her bored and a little upset with him by the end of their patrol. He had tried to feel her up and kiss her, making it seem like they were an item, but a good foot into his stopped that as she slipped into the compartment to complain with her real friends.

The only other thing of note to happen was the reappearance of Draco Malfoy. He stuck his head in the compartment to meet a sea of wands coming up to greet him. At a word from Harry and a few of the other girls they were dropped, but he didn't seem to want to stay. He gave a short whispered conversation with Harry, smiled and disappeared back up the train. When asked what that was about, Harry wouldn't elaborate and simply waved it off as he went back to talking to Claire about the upcoming school year, specifically if she was already thinking about dating.

XoXo

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station just as the sun was dipping over the mountains behind the castle. The last fading sunlight cast an eerie and yet welcoming glow across the parapets and battlements of the old castle and then down to the shimmering lake. Students moved here and there gathering up their various trunks and luggage as familiars hooted, hissed and squeaked at one another; in this instance it almost seemed like the children themselves greeting friends they hadn't seen in the intervening months.

As Hermione was fixing the prefect badge to the front of her robes and making sure it was nice and shiny, she gathered up her belongings and headed for the exit of the train. Her friends had gone on ahead for a bit, with Harry, Rachel, Claire, and Cassie in one carriage and the others in another carriage. She was looking forward to sitting with Luna once more and her mind started to drift over thoughts of the strange blonde girl. She didn't see the body in front of her until she had nearly collided with it.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, please excuse me." Hermione apologized profusely as she tried to hush Crookshanks up who was hissing slightly in his carrier.

"Mione!" Hermione froze involuntarily and shivered a little. She knew that voice and it didn't bode well for either of them. "Listen, I was hoping to talk to you…"

"Ron, look, you made it quite clear before that you didn't like Harry and I….I guess I can respect that, but I do like being around Harry and I've made my decision." Hermione was trying to be friendly to the git, but it was becoming harder and harder.

"Oh, of course, Hermione, I totally understand. We should just put this whole thing behind us and head on up to the castle." Ron seemed to almost be getting it until he moved to put his arm around her back with his hand coming very close to her butt.

"Ron.." Hermione backed away slightly, sliding away from the hand. "I don't think that you understand me, I want to be friends with Harry and if you're going to keep trying to stay away from him and say that he's dark….then I'm going to have to cut my friendship with you as well."

Ron's face clouded over slightly and he scowled. "What did he do to you? He must have stolen you away, the no good bastard. I bet you've been snogging all summer, haven't you?"

"We haven't been snogging, actually…" Hermione broke off as she saw Luna coming towards them from over Ron's shoulder.

"Hermione, we're waiting with the carriage, are you coming?" Luna asked in her usual dreamy tone, keeping up appearances as to the crowd of people still pushing past them to get up the path to the school.

"Of course, Luna." Hermione moved to grab her trunk and Crookshank's carrier, but a hand on the handle stopped her.

"We're not through talking here." Ron looked up menacingly at Luna. "Go away, Looney, Mione and me need to talk." He turned back to her expectantly and then nearly growled. "You will be staying away from Potter this year and you're going to be my girlfriend."

Hermione had barely any time to react as she stared into the eyes of the man before her. She had never seen the jealousy of Ron first hand, sure she had been there when Ron had gotten angry at Harry over the Triwizard Tournament, and of course with the charms in their first year, but this was new. As she stared into the eyes of the man in front of her, she got the distinct impression that he was going to hurt her. That was of course until there was a sharp thud and the eyes closed with tears leaking out of the corners.

Luna stood behind Ron with her hands on her hips as she watched him double over clutching his crotch in mild pain. His grip on Hermione loosened as he fell to the ground moaning and groaning in pain.

"I think she made it perfectly clear, Ronald." Luna moved to help Hermione with her luggage, pulling it towards the waiting carriage with the rest of their friends in it.

Leaving behind the cowering redhead and his sister, whom had just showed up to help her brother off the platform, the two girls started heading towards the path that lead down to the carriages. Hermione looked up to Luna and smiled gently. "Thanks."

"It was nothing, Hermione. You do things for people you like that are sometimes unpleasant. I can only hope that my foot forgives me for where I had to put it; it might need to be sanitized later on." Luna looked imploringly at her left foot like it was going to be lost forever. Hermione giggled slightly and took the girl's hand as they moved to sit in the carriage.

"I'll help with the washing if you need it." She blushed a little at the implication and the two girls giggled slightly.

"What kept you two? We've been waiting here for several minutes." Lavender pouted slightly.

"Just taking care of some old business, nothing to worry about." Hermione smiled and leaned back in the carriage as it started to roll up towards the castle. _This is going to be one interesting year. _Hermione thought to herself. She felt Luna's hand in her own and smiled as she looked down at their joined hands. _Yes, a very interesting year indeed._


	4. Chapter 4

The thestral drawn carriages pulled up along the dirt path towards the large imposing castle in the distance. The girls could already see Harry and the Black girls coming out of their own carriage a few in front of them in the queue. The small group seemed to be waiting, however, on the steps for the rest of their friends to arrive. When the girl's carriage did finally pull up alongside the entrance, Harry opened the door himself and offered his hand to the first girl that would take it.

Parvati giggled slightly as she took the offered arm and was helped from the carriage, pulling her luggage down with her and setting it in the entrance hall. By the time she was done Lavender and her sister Padma had already been helped from the carriage as well. Luna went next and offered her arm to Hermione, giving a wink to Harry. He in turn just smiled and took the hint, moving away from the carriage to make sure the girl's luggage was all stored in the entrance hall.

All of the girls paired up and walked into the Great Hall whispering about the coming year. Padma and Luna separated from the group and headed over towards Ravenclaw, while the three new students had to wait in the entranceway with Professor McGonagall for the other first years to be sorted. Hermione, Parvati, Lavender, and Harry moved over towards the Gryffindor table, waving to mutual friends as well as speaking in low tones with one another. As a group they sat down nearest the doors to the Great Hall and continued talking.

"Hermione, what's the toad doing up there again?" Harry waved up towards the head table. The three girls turned and indeed Umbridge was sitting near the end of it. She was a right state with her tattered pink robes and her hair sleeked back slightly. She twitched and fretted in her seat, jumping whenever something large hit the floor.

"I have no idea, but I can only imagine she's here from the Ministry again." Hermione sighed and shook her head. "We'll never learn anything about defense." Harry smiled and patted her arm.

"Don't worry, Mione, I've got a plan." She smiled a little and then looked to the Ravenclaw table for a moment. "What is it?"

"I…well, I know it's silly, but….could you all call me Mi from now on?" She turned red a little and looked down at her plate to hide it.

"Why's that, Hermione?" Parvati spoke up from across the table. The four friends had arranged themselves with Harry and Hermione on one side and Parvati and Lavender facing them.

"It's just…..Ron always called me Mione and I'm not sure I really ever liked it. I love my given name, but it is a rather large mouthful." Here the friends had to smile and nod slightly. "Luna has been calling me Mi for a while and I rather like it, but I'm not sure if that will work for the rest of us."

Harry smiled a little and put his arm around her waist, giving her a gentle squeeze. This move went unnoticed by most except for a pair of redhead siblings that had just come in the door. "Not to worry, we'll come up with a good name, but I think Luna had a different meaning in mind with that one."

Hermione seemed deep in thought as the others watched their friends and classmates streaming into the hall. She got a wistful look on her face a moment later and then blushed, punching Harry in the arm. Before she could say anything however, the long line of first year students came into the hall lead by Professor McGonagall. Harry waved to not only the three Black girls, but also Shay and Morgan Valentine.

Both Valentine girls were awed by the size and impression they got from the large Great Hall. Shay appeared to shrink slightly back into her robes from embarrassment about being up there, but Morgan loved it. Her small frame twisted this way and that to see everything that there was, focusing on one thing only long enough to get some details and then look away. When her eyes found Harry she waved excitedly and pointed him out to her sister, whom waved a little more sedately.

Harry smiled back to both girls and gave nods and waves to the three that he knew. Rachel blew him a few kisses while Claire and Cassie were eyeing the old sorting hat sitting on the stool. As the entire hall soon quieted down the sorting hat came to life, jerking slightly as the rip near the brim opened into a wide mouth.

_Another year has come at last_

_And here you all stand before me._

_Be my job to recognize the past._

_And look for what there is to see._

_So put me on and think real hard_

_Of what you want to do_

_And I will take up the lead of bard_

_To tell all what you accrue._

_Whether it be Gryffindor, Ravenclaw,_

_Slytherin, or Hufflepuff, it's true._

_Hogwarts is the family with many flaws._

_Gryffindor they say was brave_

_But more than rash was he._

_Slytherin ambitious is what they crave_

_Although cowardly he may be._

_Ravenclaw was fair and lusty_

_Taking only those of smarts_

_Her sight was slightly rusty_

_Not looking into their hearts_

_Beautiful dear Hufflepuff was next_

_Taking those of loyal true_

_Never thinking of the job so complex_

_Hard working was her clue._

_While I separate you each in four_

_Unite you must to fight the war._

_Put me on and see for yourself_

_What lies deep within your heart._

Most of the school clapped at the end of the song, although a few were silent staring at the hat. In the time that Harry had heard the song the hat always praised the founders and simply told what each of the houses stood for, but this year was obviously different because of other factors. While clapping for the hat he scanned the others reactions and saw most of his friends had reached the same conclusion.

"The rhyming scheme was a little off there at the end." Hermione nodded as she clapped and spoke over some of the other whispers that had broken out at the end of the song.

"I think it had something it wanted to say and couldn't figure out how to make it rhyme there at the end." Lavender replied as she craned her neck to try and see the new students being sorted. "Awful lot of older students coming in this year, isn't there?"

"People are getting scared with the Ministry finally acknowledging that Voldemort is back." Harry ignored the flinches around the table and continued. "Many parents are enrolling their children in Hogwarts late because they feel that with Dumbledore around the dark tosser wouldn't want to attack the castle."

The friends turned back to the sorting as it was reaching the older students. For the ease of getting through the sorting and not embarrassing a few people the older and younger students were separated. They paid enough attention to see Morgan Valentine be named a Hufflepuff. She seemed to pout for a second, going to sit with her new friends, all the time looking across the hall to Harry and his friends. He gave her a small encouraging smile and saw the little girl blush and turn to talk to another new first year near her.

When it came time to sort the older students into their new houses, the Black girls were near the top, all three of them going one after the other. Their names being called out caused a few whispers to break out and a few pointing, but that quieted down once Claire was put into Ravenclaw. The table clapped politely as she went and sat with Luna and Padma. Rachel was put in Slytherin and she couldn't help but blow kisses to both Draco and Harry as she walked past. Draco paled and slammed his head into the table a few times to the ringing laughter of Rachel.

Cassie was the real surprise of the night. Harry knew that Tonks had been in Hufflepuff before, and figured that she would probably end up there as well. Instead she was put in Gryffindor and squealed happily before bounding over and nearly sitting right in Harry's lap. The girls around the bewildered wizard made room for the new addition and congratulated her on getting into the house of the lion. Cassie gave a short wave across the hall to her new sisters at Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Harry clapped loudly along with the Hufflepuffs when Shay was put in with her sister. She seemed embarrassed, her face red as a tomato as she sat down next to the bouncing Morgan. Harry gave her an encouraging wave and she smiled a little, still staring down at the gold plates and cutlery through most of the rest of the sorting.

"Now that we are all sorted and seemed to be settling down." Dumbledore stood up and gave a twinkling gaze over towards Cassie whom was still bouncing in her seat. Clapping his hands together the food appeared up onto the tables from the kitchens below.

As the houses ate, Harry listened to the gossip flying around him. It didn't hurt the cause to know what was going on around the rest of the school, and having the two self proclaimed gossip queens on his side were a bonus. Lavender and Parvati sitting across from him immediately started in on what people were wearing, whom was going out with whom and what the newest gossip could be in the coming weeks of school. Scanning the room the two girls landed on a pair of redheads leaning close to each other and occasionally shooting glares down the table.

"Harry, look at that…" Lavender said, tilting her head in their direction. Harry looked for a moment and then shrugged.

"I can only guess that they're planning something, although Neville doesn't seem to be in on it." Neville was seated a little ways down from the Weasley duo speaking in low tones to Dean and Seamus. "Think he might be getting support for a Ban Potter campaign for the dorms?"

"Not likely, we spoke to both of them on the train and they seem to be in your court with all this mess. It could be that he's trying more to get support for himself when he comes to apologize." Parvati speared a jacket potato and pulled it onto her plate before dousing it in butter and digging in.

"If they do try something, our vengeance will be swift and just." Cassie claimed, pulling more vegetables onto her plate. At a look from Harry she sighed. "Fine, I won't string them up from the astronomy tower by their knickers, but believe me…it would have been fun."

The other girls at the table nodded as Harry shook his head and then went to take a sip of his juice. A soft warm glow came from his right hand on the goblet and he paused for a second as he assimilated the information he got. Hermione stared down at his hand for a moment and saw the flash of something black and silver. Gasping she grabbed his hand and pulled it towards her.

"Harry James Potter, what in Merlin is going on?" Over Hermione's shoulder Harry could just see Ginny craning her neck to try and see him. She seemed eager to see what was about to happen.

"Later, Mi, I'll let you all in on a few secrets later, but for now, no one touch my goblet." Harry pulled his hand back from Hermione and smiled gently. "I could get used to your new nickname."

Before Hermione could respond however Dumbledore had already cleared all the plates and goblets of their food and drink respectively. Harry let his disappear without ever touching the liquid within. He caught a glimpse of Ginny sagging against her brother further down the table, but they quickly struck up a conversation with some others around their table. As Dumbledore stood he swept his arms across the hall in a grand gesture.

"Welcome, one and all to another year at Hogwarts. You will see some old faces and some new here in the school. As the sorting hat always points out, this year more so than last, Hogwarts is a family and there may come a time in the not so distant future where all of its students will have to stand together." Here he swept the hall with his eyes, landing first on Gryffindor and then on Slytherin. "Coming back to us from her short stay in Saint Mungo's after her dreadful accident is Professor Umbridge to teach Defense against the Dark Arts."

The hall erupted into a various shows of outrage or affection. The Slytherins, most of them at any rate, were singing her praises, clapping and cheering to have her return. Most of the rest of the hall were on their feet loudly protesting the return of by far the worst professor in the history of their time there. Many from last year's DA stood as well to protest, but Harry did not. Noticing their leader from last year not protesting, many of the students sat down confused, but he shook his head with a smile.

"Yes, Yes, we are all happy to see Professor Umbridge back safe and sound." Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled merrily behind his glasses. The students slowly sat down muttering and whispering to one another. "After the Ministry recorded exemplary marks on O.W.L and N.E.W.T examinations last semester, they wished for her to return to teaching." Here most of the DA started to protest, but Harry shook his head again and waved them back down into their seats. "Because of her unfortunate condition a new approved student run organization has been formed to assist Professor Umbridge in her teaching duties. This organization will focus mostly on the practical portion of the Defense class while she will cover theory in the classroom."

The other teachers stared at Dumbledore as did most of the school. Harry simply smiled as Umbridge turned a shade of red and then white at the implications of the announcement. The entire school was on the edge of their seats, figuratively and literally as they waited for the inevitable announcement to drop.

"As per the Hogwarts bylaws, the organization has been approved by both me and the board of Governors. This new, Defense Association, or DA for short, will be completely student run with Professor McGonagall as the faculty advisor." The school was completely silent as they continued to listen, many of them staring at Dumbledore, Umbridge, or Harry for their reactions. "The DA will be open for all houses and all years depending on your skill. Each person interested in joining will have to speak with their Head of House for more details after this coming weekend."

Dumbledore clapped his hands and then seated himself, engaging in a conversation with McGonagall on one side and Sinistra on the other. The students didn't seem to know what to do with themselves as they sat there talking amongst themselves. Eventually the Head girl and Boy moved through the tables telling the prefects of a new meeting that would take place that evening directly following dinner in the Headmaster's office.

Harry smiled as he watched Dumbledore give a small nod in his direction before seating himself. Cho came by to let Hermione know of the meeting, but seemed to linger slightly near Harry, her leg pressed up against his back as she leaned over to talk to Hermione. Once she had left he shook his head a little and gained the attention of the other ladies at the table.

"What is it Harry? Do you know something about this new DA?" Hermione leaned into him as did the others.

"Of course I do, why Dumbledore would name it that if he didn't already know that I wanted to continue it." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments or questions. "What had me thinking was the rather flirtatious leaning of our dear Head Girl Cho Chang."

Instantly the four girls looked up around the Hall to find their query. Cho was down the Gryffindor table telling the new fifth year prefects and Ron about the meeting that would be held. As a group they started to stand, but Harry laid a hand on Hermione and Parvati's arms a little, pulling them back down onto the bench. Cassie still stared murderously down the aisle towards the Asian girl before speaking.

"She has no right to just come in here and flirt with you like that."

"Really?" Harry leaned on the table and smiled at the four blushing girls.

"It's just….we put a lot of effort into you and we don't' want to see you get hurt." Hermione began speaking really fast and then blushed as she stared at her plate.

"Look, all the girls talked one night and we figured that it would be best if you were with one of us, or at least someone that we all approve of." Cassie spoke quickly, seeing the scowl on Harry's face. "It's not that you need our permission to date…it's just….oh…"

Lavender put a hand on Cassie's arm as well as staring into Harry's eyes. "We are all very committing to protecting you, my lord. If a woman insults you then she insults all of us and we must defend you. We care much for your happiness, my lord."

The formal address as well as her words softened Harry a little and he groaned. "Ok, but none of that 'my lord' business again; I get the point. You're right though, Cho never was very good for me and it's odd that she would only now find me attractive when she had her shot last year."

The girls nodded and had to fill Cassie in on what had happened last year on Valentine's Day. Once the story was finished she looked furious and went to stand again to go after the Head Girl, wand in hand. It took both Harry and Hermione to talk her down from the idea, and only after a small kiss on the cheek from Harry did she sit back down.

Once all the prefects had been told of the meeting the students were let out of the Great Hall and streamed into the hallways and passages of the ancient castle. The Slytherins broke off at the entrance hall to the dungeons with the Gryffindor and Ravenclaws heading up towards their respective towers. Harry gave a nod of recognition to each of his friends as well as a wave to the Valentine sisters as they were shown off with the Hufflepuffs towards their dorms.

Upon reaching the portrait of the fat lady and the common room beyond, the four friends sat around the fire waiting for Hermione to return. Both Ginny and Ron were prefects for their year and disappeared with Hermione shortly after they had been let out from dinner. Seated around the fire with his friends, Harry felt more at home in the castle then he ever did. Cassie was flipping through one of her new textbooks familiarizing herself with potions, spells, and the like while Lavender and Parvati spoke it fast paced gossip girl speech that Harry couldn't possibly follow.

"Harry, could we talk?" Neville spoke up from behind the couch that Harry and Lavender were seated at. Instantly the conversation around the fire died and the girl's all looked to the shy boy.

"It's ok, girls, I'll talk with him." Standing Harry waved Neville over towards a nearby table and chairs. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm not going to apologize for the letter if that's what you want to hear." Neville slid down into a chair across from Harry. "I did think that you were a menace to us, our house and our lives, Harry. I still believe that on some level, but I do recognize that you're not going dark."

"I guess that's some consolation, what did you want to talk to me about?" Harry crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in the chair.

"Before term started Ron and Ginny sent me a letter saying that they were going to try and get you banned from the Quidditch team even if Umbit…Umbridge's ban doesn't hold up. They were also talking about starting a petition to get you moved out of Gryffindor house for good." Neville shuffled his feet a little and then took a deep breath. "You've earned us a lot of points over the years, and lost a fair share. I know that Professor Snape seems to hate both of us equally, but I think that they might have gone too far with all of this."

"What do you mean?"

"I only got hurt last June because I choose to go with you, not because of something that happened here at school. Ron used to tell us amazing stories of your exploits here at school and I'm glad that I wasn't with you through some of them." He looked out the window as he sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why the hat put me in this house to begin with; here I want to stay away from the action when I'm supposed to be brave."

"Nev, bravery isn't all about jumping in head first. Think about what the hat said tonight about each of the houses, they all have their flaws, but Gryffindors are rash and can get killed for their bravery." He put a hand on the wayward students shoulder. "Sometimes bravery means knowing when to run away."

Neville nodded and then looked back at Harry. "Do you think that I belong here, Harry?"

"I think that everyone is put in their houses for a reason. It could be something small like standing up to a bully, or something large like going after the darkest wizard of all time. I do know this though, you were damn brave in the Ministry and I would be proud to have you fight alongside me anytime."

Neville smiled a little and then shook his head. "I don't think I was really that brave, going up against all those Death Eaters…and Lestrange getting away.." His face darkened for a moment and Harry shook his head.

"Neville, you fought beautifully in there and lasted longer than anyone else besides myself, and that's only because I've been training myself for so long. About Bellatrix Lestrange, I think that there is something you should see, a memory." Harry leaned in close and nodded slightly. "Not yet, and not here, but I'll get it to you when I can, all right?"

Neville nodded and accepted Harry's handshake before moving away from the table and heading up towards the boy's dorm. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he moved to sit back down on the couch on the other side from Lavender. The girl's gave him questioning looks, but before he could answer the portrait hole opened once more and a horde of prefects came into the common room.

Ginny smiled to Harry and gave a little demure wave before glaring at the girls around him. She sashayed her hips a little as she walked back towards the girl's dorms followed by a small group of girls that were obviously her friends. Ron didn't say anything to anyone as he came in the room and headed straight for the stairs, taking them two at a time to get up to his room. Hermione came in last and looked on the verge of hexing anyone who got in her way.

Harry stood and with the help of Cassie got Hermione to sit down in the middle of the couch with her friends around her. Lavender and Parvati were even concerned for the bushy haired genius of Gryffindor as they leaned in to help her relax a little. Cassie conjured a hot mug of tea and put it in Hermione's hand as Harry drew small circles on her back with his fingers.

After a few seconds Hermione seemed to calm down and gave a great sigh. "Thanks, guys, I really needed that. I guess I shouldn't let what she says get to me."

"Who?" Cassie asked from her position on the floor before the couch.

"Cho and Ginny, they were….ugh….I don't know if I can even talk about it."

"If you don't talk about it, how can we possibly craft a suitable revenge?" Cassie smirked twirling her wand between her fingers. The others nodded as well and Hermione smiled.

"I love you guys, have I ever told you that?" She sipped her tea for a moment and then took a deep breath for a long story. "I was coming out of dinner going towards the Headmaster's office for the meeting when….

**Flashback**

Hermione came out of dinner and started to walk down the familiar hallways towards the Headmaster's office. He often spoke with prefects there for various reasons, but she had never been there herself, only told where it was. She knew from conversations with Harry how the office was set up and what Dumbledore kept around him at all times. Her head was down so she didn't see the small group of girls that were walking in front of her.

"I thought you said that you two were dating. He didn't seem very interested in you at dinner."

"Oh, that's just because he felt bad for those girls. I mean, we have to keep up appearances or there might be an attack of something. He's so thoughtful like that." Hermione recognized Ginny's voice. As she rounded a corner she could see a small group of girls walking in front of her with the redhead in the lead.

"When's your date?" One of the other girls asked.

"Tomorrow night, just like always. We have a standing date for the first day back after term starts. He always brings me flowers and expensive gifts." Hermione was able to keep herself from snorting at the idea of some boy buying Ginny expensive gifts.

"He and Granger seemed pretty close at dinner, are you sure that you're going out with The Harry Potter?" Hermione was now closely following the girls, keeping her footsteps silent as she walked.

"Of course I am would I lie?" The girls didn't seem to buy it, but Ginny continued. "I mean, he just feels sorry for her; who wouldn't? She's the same buck toothed bushy haired, know-it-all that she was in first year."

"I don't know; I heard a few boys in Ravenclaw talking about how to get Granger in the sack. That Looney girl seemed a little upset about it, but she said it was some hum-whats-it that was flying around her head at the time." The girls all laughed as they neared the hallway that lead to the Headmaster's office.

Hermione kept her distance from the group taking in calming breaths just around the corner from the winged boars that guarded the entrance to the Head office. She put a hand to her chest and then slowly turned the corner. Ginny was gone, but Cho was apparently waiting at the bottom of the steps with the door open for the rest of the prefects to arrive.

"Granger, good for you to arrive early; Weasley already went up. I was hoping to talk to you privately before the meeting." Cho kept her voice happy as she spoke.

"What would you like to talk about, Cho?"

"First of all I was hoping you could help out my friend Marietta from last year. She says that she's really sorry about what happened, even if she can't remember all the details." She gave a large sigh and looked down at the other girl before her. "I also wanted to ask about Harry."

"What about Harry?"

"Well, I was hoping to get to know him again this year and wanted to know what kind of girls Harry is interested in." Cho flipped her black hair over her shoulder. "I mean, does he like pretty girls like me or plainer one's like you. You've been his friend for five years now, I'm sure that you would know by now."

Hermione gritted her teeth at the implication. "Well, I think you would know since you went out with Harry last year."

"I don't really consider that much of a relationship. I was hoping for a bit more intimacy after our first kiss, but I guess you can't have everything. Tell me, how is he in bed?"

"What!?" Hermione had to take a step back and put her hand over her heart.

"You must have been sleeping with him for so long to get him to be so loyal to you. He left a date with me to go to the Three Broomsticks with you, clearly there's something going on there."

Before Hermione could give her angry retort the rest of the prefects had arrived, moving up the hallways chatting happily with one another. Giving one last look to Cho Hermione moved up the moving staircase towards the office, her mind a whirlwind of what she had both heard and spoken about.

**End Flashback**

Harry was staring at the ceiling in thought as the other girls around him were increasingly angry. Lavender and Parvati were already talking about what rumors to spread about the new Head Girl while Cassie was flipping through her textbooks for the most obscure curses and potions that they could use. Hermione stared down into the surface of her tea for a moment before speaking.

"Harry…do you…I mean…." Harry took her hands in his and gently gave them a squeeze.

"I don't hang out with you out of pity if that's what you're going to ask. And No, I don't think that you're plain at all." Hermione blushed at the compliment and smiled. "Ginny's remarks do explain a few things."

"Yes, they most certainly do." Lavender tapped a well manicured finger against her chin. "I think it might be time to unleash a few nasty rumors that I've had stored up for just such an occasion."

"Oooh….number fifty-five, please let's do that one." Parvati was on her knees begging as she pouted slightly to her best friend.

"Come on girls, we have planning to do." Cassie stood up, gathering her books as she headed towards the girls stairs, blowing a kiss to Harry. "We'll see you in the morning, lover boy." The other girls did the same, giving hugs to Harry as they disappeared, chatting with one another in whispers.

"This year is only going to get more interesting." Harry shook his head as he trudged up the stairs dreading the coming confrontation.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I apologize for not getting this up faster, but I've been working on a series of one-shots that have turned into very long stories in their own right. I should be posting this in conjunction with a new chapter for Harry Potter and the Lord of Time as well. As always, I do not own any of this except maybe the plot; no, I don't even own the chapter titles.

As Harry slowly climbed the steps towards his dorm he could already hear shouting and raised voices coming from the closed door. He passed a few boys coming down the stairs that stared either at him or at the door and then quickly slid around him to get down the stairs rather quickly. Climbing up the last few steps he placed a hand on the door knob and took a deep breath; turning the handle and pushing it open intensified the shouting that was already going on.

"…sensitive git, sometimes Ron." Dean was standing near his trunk throwing some of his clothes back into it before kicking the lid closed. "Honestly, he's been rooming with us for five years now and suddenly you decide this now?"

Ron's bed had been positioned directly across from Dean's for the last several years, directly next to Harry's, but now he looked like he was trying to move his things from the bed across the room to the bed next to Dean. This was encumbered by Seamus whom was already lying on it and shaking his head. Looking at the head of the room where the single bed rested with Neville reading a book on it, Ron huffed and fell back on his trunk, sitting now in the middle of the room.

"I refuse to stay in the same room as a dangerous Dark Lord in training. Who knows what kind of evil things he could get up to at night with the four of us?"

"Yes, I hear that the blood of a virgin can be used in quite a few dark rituals." Seamus smirked as he called out from his bed. Ron jumped up red faced and pointed his wand at the Irishman.

Thinking quickly to diffuse some of the situation, Harry pushed the door open hard so that it slammed backward against the stone wall and making a loud bang. This of course got the attention of his roommates as he smiled and strolled into the room over towards his trunk which was positioned at the foot of his bed. He ignored the glare from Ron and the smirk from Dean and Seamus as he started to unpack his things, humming a light tune as he moved around.

Ron kept his wand trained on Harry the entire time he was moving; not wavering in the slightest, but when he started to put things away is when he found his voice again. "Don't bother unpacking, Potter, you're not going to be staying in here for very long, you know."

Dean and Seamus glared at Ron while Neville merely rolled his eyes behind his book. Harry straightened up from putting his clothes in the small dresser near the bed and smoothed out the wrinkles on his robe. "That sounds almost like a Malfoy thing to say, Ron."

The other boys gasped and looked back to Ron was his wand wavered a little, looking like a small ball of light was forming on the end of it. "I'm nothing like Malfoy and you know that, you little traitor. You're not welcome here anymore."

Stepping forward Harry left his chest open to attack as he stared into the eyes of his one time friend. "Ron, I know that you really don't want to do this." The wand tip started to glow a little more and Harry cocked his head to the side. "Ok, maybe you really do, but if you do then you could get expelled, and who is going to protect Ginny then?"

The redhead's concentration wavered at the mention of his sister, but the wand was still resolutely pointed at Harry's chest. "What about my sister? What are you going to do to her, you monster?"

"I'm not going to do anything." Harry waved his hands a little. "I heard her say that she was meeting someone tomorrow night for a date, she seemed rather excited about it, something about intimacy." This got all the boys interested, and Neville even set his book aside to watch the interplay.

"You're lying, trying to trick me." Ron stuttered as he changed stance so that he wasn't looking at Harry's chest anymore and instead directly at his eyes.

"Ask one of her friends, or Hermione, she was talking about it while on the way to the prefect meeting. She said that she and this new guy were going to try a few…things on their date, or at least that's what she expected to happen."

"If she has a date already then why did she want me to…" Ron broke off suddenly and moved his wand quickly back up to rest just under Harry's chin. The black haired teen had moved forward slightly, and even if he had stopped, Ron's words had caught the other's attention.

"To do what, Ron?" Dean spoke up for the first time from his bed, sitting up expectantly. Ron's eyes flickered to him and then back to Harry, but he didn't say anything.

"You can protect your sister, Ron. She's getting interested in boys now and soon there will be snogging, and with your brothers all gone, who is going to look after her?" Harry opened his arms and shrugged. "I suppose if you asked nicely I could do it for you."

"NO!" Ron shouted and then lowered his wand, still glaring at Harry as he stalked back towards his bed. "I'm going to make sure that Ginny is protected, from you and this other guy." Sitting down on the bed he grabbed the hangings and pulled them closed, his shadowy form waving his wand over them as he lay back down.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry went around the side of the bed and started to put his things away, moving slowly and deliberately around the trunk and pulling things from it. The smashed remains of the mirror were still resting in the bottom as he shifted a few things around and gently pushed them to the side. As he moved he continued to hum a little and only stopped at a small hesitant voice coming from the other side of the room.

"Harry, were you…..I mean….does Ginny really have a date tomorrow?" Neville sat up in his bed, sitting on the edge of it staring down at his shoes. Dean and Seamus had already changed and pulled their hangings closed the same as Ron had moments before.

Sighing, Harry came to sit down beside the wayward Gryffindor and looked at him a little. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Nev."

"You weren't just saying that to get Ron all riled up, were you?" Neville's voice as small hopeful and a little hesitant as he continued to stare at the floor; finding his shoes more interesting at the moment.

"I know that you've liked her in the past, Nev, but there are better girls out there for you. Plenty here in Gryffindor and certainly there are more out there in the other houses. Although I'm sure your Gran would have a heart attack if you started dating a Slytherin." Both boys laughed a little nervously before Neville coughed and groaned a little.

"I just can't imagine many people would even want to be with me given the other guys in the school. I mean….what have I really got going for me?" Neville groaned and lay back on his bed staring up at the top of his bed. "Compared to you and the others I don't really match up much, do I?"

Harry shook his head a little and sighed gently. "Listen to me, you're a wonderful guy, you really are, you just need to have a little more confidence in yourself. I'm not suggesting that you go strutting around the school like Ron or Malfoy." Both boys chuckled a little at that, shooting a glance at the redhead's bed, but he was already snoring loudly. "Plus, have you seen some of the guys in Slytherin, besides pretty boy Malfoy there's not much competition there."

Neville laughed a little and nodded somewhat. "I have had my eye on a Hufflepuff in our year, but I can't ever get up the courage to ask her out. And I do have to admit that some of the girls in Slytherin are rather attractive." His eyes flickered around the room as if he expected someone to come out and start shouting at him.

"I might be able to help you with that, and I will ask nothing in return." Harry smiled a little as he patted the boy's shoulder again and moved over towards his own bed. "Remember, Nev, bravery is about doing what is right, not what is easy."

Neville sat up a little at that and his face scrunched up in thought. "I've heard that before, but I can't really place it. Where did you hear it?"

Harry smiled and shrugged as he finished changing into his bed clothes before jumping under the sheets. "Some old guy, really wise."

Neville shrugged and slipped down into his own bed, pulling the hangings closed as he settled down. Harry for his part stared up at the top of his bed for a time before rolling over and extinguishing the last light in the room. In the pitch darkness he thought about what the rest of the year would be like with two less friends, but smiled as he thought of the many more that he had already made. With that thought in his head he slowly slipped into sleep and unconsciousness.

XoXo

Voldemort paced back and forth on the raised black dais of the throne room that he had occupied for most of the time since his resurrection. The room around the throne was undecorated and a perfect circle of stone with torches set into the wall by sconces at periodic intervals. As his pacing brought him back towards the left side of the dais there was a knock on the heavy wooden doors that were set into the curved wall just before the throne. Without even turning around he waved his wand at the doors and they slammed open to admit four figures clad in black.

The two figures on the outside were standing upright and strode purposefully into the room while the two in the middle cowered and quivered as they took each step. Each, upon reaching the base of the dais bent low into a kneel and dropped their heads towards the ground. It was hard to tell given the masks of bone white what each of the men were thinking about, but they waited patiently for their lord to give them permission to rise. After a full five minutes, however, Voldemort had not taken notice of them as he continued his pacing.

Circling about the dais he came back towards the front and noticed the men now prostrating themselves on the floor. "Rise, and speak, why have you disturbed my thoughts?" He slowly slid down to sit on the marble throne as he kept his wand twirling between his fingers.

"Master, these worms have returned empty handed once more on the important mission that you have given them the honor of doing for you." The silky voice came from the man on the left pointing at the two that were still kneeling on the floor with their heads bowed low.

"Insufferable scum." The black wand sliced out from his hand and shot a yellow curse at the man on the right whom fell down screaming and starting to froth at the mouth. After a few seconds he released the spell and sat back down on the throne. "Now tell me why you have not come here bearing what I have instructed you to retrieve, and be quick about it."

"Master, the artifact was not where we were told it was." He flinched expecting to be cursed, but when it did not come he continued to speak. "The guardian spells were in place and were much more difficult than we had anticipated."

"Fools!" Thrusting forward from the throne, Voldemort seemed to fly down to the two men before forcing one of them to stand, the one that had not been speaking. Staring into the man's eyes for a moment he let the man crumple to the ground. "You're lucky that you saw much of the enchantments."

"Master, I will head the team this time to extract the artifact for you." The man on his other side had stepped forward with his wand over his heart and his head bowed. Voldemort considered the man while he strides up towards the throne and sat back down.

"You seem quite eager to make up for your wife's failures, Rudolphus." The man quivered slightly under the malicious smile that he received, but then Voldemort waved at him. "Very well, you will lead a new team to search the coordinates that we were given. Malfoy, have your wi…" He slammed his fist into the stone throne, pieces of it coming off where his hand hit. "Find us new translators, someone that can write and read as well, I have a feeling that this will not go easily."

The two men before him bowed low and then dragged the other two out of the room. One of the men had already gone catatonic from the curses being thrown around while the other muttered incoherently about random things from last night's Quidditch scores to a large beast that they had encountered. Voldemort paid neither of them any mind as he resumed his pacing back and forth along the dais around the marble throne. The wand made another appearance in his hands as he twirled it around and looked at it blankly for a moment before going back to his pacing.

A loud knock came once more at the massive wooden doors and at a wave of the wand the doors banged open to admit a regal looking woman. She was old displaying a sheet of white hair that reached down to her shoulders with bags and wrinkles under her eyes. Her brown orbs stared directly at the menacing pacing creature before her before moving towards the throne. Unlike the others she kept her head up as she walked and was clothed in a flowing red robe with gold piping along the collar and down one of the sides. An insignia was on the left breast of the robe depicting a phoenix in flight surrounded by blue flames.

As she neared the throne she bowed low, keeping her eyes level with the throne and not looking at the man pacing. "My Lord, you sent for me."

Voldemort stopped his pacing to come around and stand next to the throne, a skeletal hand stroking the top of it as he stared at the woman. "Yes, you lied to me. You told me of the protections around the artifact and yet my men were unable to retrieve it."

"Your men are incompetent. I gave you all the information that I and the others possess." She kept her tone respectful, but her voice was still harsh and contained a slight bite to it.

"Do they suspect you?" He came down towards her and stood directly above her on the final step of the dais, staring into her eyes.

"No, my Lord. The others are well set in their ways and do not know of your plans, nor my involvement. I have kept the others busy with fruitless quests to divert their attention."

"Are there any incursions to the artifact from anyone else?"

"There have been no inquiries as to it since your request of me, my Lord." She bowed low, keeping her eyes lowered and the back of her neck exposed.

"Very good, you will keep up your good work and report back to me if anyone begins asking too many unnecessary questions."

"Pardon, my Lord, but I can handle them myself. You know of my own power and what I yield at my command." She straightened up and stared the man in the eyes, making both of them visible shudder from the brief contact.

Voldemort moved back up the dais to sit on the throne, putting his wand across his lap a little with his right hand touching the handle. "I do not doubt your abilities, but inquisitions must be dealt with harshly. Go now and report back when you have something new."

At a wave of his hand the woman bowed once more and then turned and left back through the old wooden doors, having them slam shut behind her. The room was once again bathed in the soft flickering glow of the torches along the walls and the evil smile on Lord Voldemort's face. His wand twirled around his fingers as he stared at the doors where the woman had just vanished from.

"Soon, very soon and I will have what I truly deserve."

XoXo

Harry woke up with a start the next morning to a loud banging noise. Sitting up quickly he pulled the curtains away from his bed and his wand was in his hand before he even looked out. Even without his glasses he could see dark shapes moving around the room already, four to be sure and was concerned that one of them was nearby. With his wand in his right hand he reached out with his left and slipped on his glasses. In an instant the world came into focus and he lowered the wand.

His roommates were all up and moving around, somewhat eager to start the new term and the new day, most of them at any rate. Ron was kicking at his trunk as he dug through it for something or other while being ignored by the other boys in the room. Harry let out a sigh of relief as he slipped out of his bed and went to the bathrooms to take care of his morning routine.

After showering and brushing his teeth he dressed in his Hogwarts robes and headed downstairs towards the common room. Most everyone was starting to get up now anyway and the room was full of various years mulling about talking to one another. As he waded through the crowd to get to the portrait door he could hear snippets of conversations here and there, most were simple introductions of old friends or stories about their summer vacation. A few made him pause and stored information away for future use, but he continued on.

"….tter fought him, that's what I heard. Bet he will lead a charge s.."

"….pelled for what he's brought on this house, all the points that he's lost us over the yea…"

"…ark Lord, you just wait and see, we've all seen what he can do."

Brushing away the comments he headed down the hallways and towards the Great Hall, not really looking or caring where he was going. It was this lack of looking where he was going that forced him to collide with a blonde body and sent them both spiraling down towards the floor. He was able to twist his body enough so that he was the one that landed hard on his back with the girl landing on top of him. After a moment he smiled and put a hand on the small of the girl's back.

"Are you all right, Luna?" He asked as he raised his head from the floor a little to look at the lithe girl that was atop him. She smiled and nodded before sitting up, still straddling him slightly before pulling herself to her feet.

"It would seem the wrackspurts have not left you completely, Harry Potter." Harry smiled as she helped him up off the floor and he dusted them both off. The Entrance Hall was mostly empty at that point in the morning so any students would have been in their dorms and did not see the slightly embarrassing scene.

"Yes, I do seem to have a rather interesting infection here and there of them, don't I? Perhaps we should discuss them at length over a little breakfast?" Harry offered her his arm as she giggled and waved his other towards the Great Hall.

Luna giggled some and then curtseyed to him before linking her arm with his and starting to walk forward. "Why thank you good sire, shall be my pleasure."

He laughed a little and shook his head smiling as he started to walk towards the Ravenclaw table. "Actually, it's good that I ran into you." She looked up and gave a small smile. "No pun intended of course, but I had a question I needed to ask you."

He slid down into a seat across from her as she sat down and stared at him. "You know that you can ask me anything Harry."

He nodded and then looked around the nearly empty Great Hall before leaning forward across the table. "It has to do with a prank I want to pull." She raised her eyebrows and waved her hand for him to continue. "It has to do with Mi." Her eyes widened a bit as he slipped around the table and started to talk in low whispers near her ear.

XoXo

The Great Hall was starting to fill up with students and professors after a little while. It was going to be the first full day that the school was open and the first day of classes as well. No students really understood why the Headmaster had chosen to have classes start so soon once they had arrived, but it had been like that for years and no one questioned it. Within a few hours the entire Great Hall was filled with chattering students talking about their summer holidays and what the next year was going to hold. Over at the Gryffindor table the conversation was slightly different from those around them.

Harry had given a soft smile to Luna before hugging her and joining the Gryffindor table not saying anything just yet. Both teens had a wide smile on their faces as they sat down to breakfast and Harry couldn't keep the small laugh that he had spilling out every once in a while. Once the hall was a little more filled his friends slowly filed into the room, Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender joining him at the Gryffindor table while Padma went to join Luna.

"How was your first night having to deal with the redheaded git?" Parvati sat down across from him as he pushed some food around on his plate for a moment, still not drinking anything at the table.

"It was ok, he accused me of a number of things here and there, but I can't really say that I'm too surprised." He smiled a little as he looked around the hall. "I actually got a rather good idea from what Hermione told me last night."

"Me? What did I tell you that could possibly gain such a malicious grin?" Hermione slid into the seat next to him and started to spoon some eggs onto her plate. Her eyes caught Luna at the other table and blushed as she looked down at the table again.

Harry tried his hardest not to laugh as he saw the interaction, but moved his hand to gently rub her back. This action was of course seen by the pair of redheads that had just entered the hall, but Harry paid them no mind. "Remember what you told me about what you heard Ginny saying last night?"

Hermione dangled a fork from her mouth for a second staring at him before she nodded and swallowed before speaking. "Yes, but what kind of idea would you get out of her delusions of being able to snag you on the first day back."

Lavender sat back a little and surveyed the pair of traitors that had sat down near the Head Table. "I do find it rather odd that she would expect you to go out with her after everything that she and her family have done to you after all this time."

"Exactly what I was thinking last night, but then I remembered what happened at the feast." Harry spoke as he leaned forward and grasped the goblet sitting at his place and felt the slight vibration and warming around his ring finger of his right hand.

Hermione saw the small flash of metal that appeared and reached for his hand just as Cassie came in and sat down on Harry's left, giving a large yawn. Her hair was still the normal shade it had been the day before, but now it was messed up and her robes were rather crumpled. It looked as if she had slept in them the night before and she was rubbing at her eyes as she reached for a jug of pumpkin juice.

"Morning, all, what's Mi freaking about this morning?" She gave a large yawn as she spilled some of the pumpkin juice onto her plate, but she didn't do anything about it.

Shaking her head, Lavender made the excess juice vanish with her wand before stowing it away. "She just freaked out when Harry touched his goblet, she did that last night as well, but I think Harry was going to explain what is going on before you interrupted."

"Oooh….one of Harry's closely guarded secrets I hear, let's see then." Cassie rubbed her hands together as she looked down at Harry's right hand, but there was nothing there now. "Are you sure you saw right, Mi?"

Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes, rubbing her finger around where a ring would be located. "I can feel it's there, but I can't see it."

Harry laughed a little and snatched his hand away, looking around he put it on the table and a small band of silver materialized on his hand. The band was approximately a quarter of an inch in diameter with a black band that ran down the exact middle. At the moment the band was doing nothing, but when he moved it to touch his goblet the black band turned red and the enter ring started to heat up. The girls watched in rapt fascination as he moved his hand away and the ring returned to normal.

Cassie groaned and put her head in her hands, her elbows on the table. "Oh Merlin, the legends are all true, and you now have it. I can't believe this is happening, I have to tell mum."

Hermione shook her head to clear away the image of the ring before she turned to Cassie fully. "What's going on?"

"Don't you see, he has the ring that means…" she groaned and slammed her head into the table top for a moment. "Of course, how could I forget…"

"Harry, you want to explain why Cassie seems like someone killed her pet kneezle?" Lavender waved a fork around before slipping it into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully on her eggs.

"The ring is a Black family legend, no one knew if it was real." Cassie's small voice came out from the curtain of hair that was still on the table top. "It's said that my mother's great-grandfather created a ring that would protect him from his enemies. In those days there were a rather large number of assassinations and back-stabbing going on."

"Doesn't seem like much has changed." Parvati smiled as she popped a sausage link into her mouth.

Cassie rolled her eyes at the antics of the other girl, finally sitting back up to finish the story. "It is said that he imbued his ring with all sorts of properties from identifying potions and poisons in his food and drink to even creating a personal shield if he were ever attacked. Of course these were only rumors and legends and after a few years they grew even larger in scope. I think my mother told me once that there was a rumor that the ring was a pork-key to some exotic far away island that could be used as a base of operations."

Harry tapped his chin with his forefinger in thought. "I haven't tried out the whole port-key function, but I do know thus far that it has prevented me from being poisoned."

Parvati gasped as she stared at the goblet still sitting in front of Harry's place setting. "The feast last night, you didn't touch your goblet after we got in and even now you're not drinking."

Hermione leaned over to look at the juice within, but it looked normal enough, as she was sitting around she glanced quickly around the room and then slid easily back into her seat. "No one react, we're being watched by more than two pairs of eyes. I can see the Weasleys are very interested in what you're doing, as well as some seventh year Slytherin."

Harry moved his hand to grip Cassie's wrist, but kept talking in low tones. "The ring not only warns me about whether or not the thing is poisoned, but also what it is poisoned with."

Hermione gasped a little and put a hand to her mouth, whispering so low that almost the four of them couldn't hear. "Ginny, last night she said that you two were going to have a date tonight. She expected you to show up even after everything that's happened."

"I don't get it, what's going on? And why are you holding me down, Harry?" Cassie batted her eyes at Harry and laughed a little.

"Don't you get it?" Lavender leaned over the table towards the other girl. "Ginny was trying to dose Harry with a love potion; we all saw the color his ring turned."

Cassie growled and started to move, but Harry had gripped her wrist and pulled her back down into the seat. She struggled against him for a few moments, before collapsing down into the bench and then leaning against his side. His hand let go of her wrist, but moved up and made small circles on her back. Slowly her eyes closed and she was almost purring into his shoulder.

"How do you do that, Harry?" Cassie moaned as she tried to sit back up after a moment. "Ok, ok, I won't hex the bit-"

"Language." Hermione hissed as she leaned across Harry.

"We would all like to hex her from here to hell and back, but we can't." Lavender sighed as she put her utensils down. "If we did that they we're likely to end up in Azkaban just like her."

The girls all nodded, but Harry was surprisingly silent as he stared down at his goblet and his plate before a large grin slowly split his face. "Hermione, do you have some parchment and a quill that I can borrow."

While the bushy haired girl was digging around in her bag for the offered items Harry turned over towards Cassie, but she spoke before he could say anything. "I know that look, I've seen it before. What are you planning?"

"If Ginny wants a date for tonight then she's going to get one." Taking the parchment Harry held up his hand to forestall any arguments. "It just might not be with the man she's thinking of."

Lavender perked up and looked around the room a little. "If we do this right, Parvati and I could start a rumor and be confirmed with the little date tonight. Who are you going to use then?" The Indian girl sitting next to the blonde smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"My original thought was to use Mi here." Harry waved the quill around and ignored the indignant look from his friend. "But I knew that it would only hurt us as well as a certain someone." He didn't have to look up to know that the girl's eyes flicked over to the Ravenclaw table briefly before looking back to her friend.

"You were going to drug me without my consent?" She hissed.

"Actually, I was going to ask you to pretend to be drugged, but I didn't want to be cruel." Folding up the parchment he copied it into a different handwriting and folded it up as well into the shape of a small bird.

"Excellent origami skills, kiddo." Cassie smiled, nudging him with her elbow.

"Thank you, and remember we're the same age now." Turning back to Lavender and Parvati across the table he addressed them more fully now. "Who's it going to be then? I had thought that the most damage would be done with a Slytherin, but I'm not all that sure."

"Well…." Lavender tapped her chin with a well manicured nail for a moment. "If you're going for shock value then I think you should go with either Goyle or Zambini."

Parvati nodded for a moment and then looked around the room quickly. "The most damage to her reputation would probably be if it wasn't a guy. If that was the case I would go with Parkinson."

Harry nodded and then smiled a little. "Ron got quite upset last night when I happened to mention that Ginny had a date tonight, perhaps we can kill two birds with one stone." He nodded a little and then turned to Cassie. "As the most senior member here, would you like to do the honors of the switching spell?"

The girls all giggled as the one in question stuck out her tongue and brandished her wand under the table. Sneakily she waved it in a complicated manner and before too long the liquid in the goblet drained out only to be replaced again with the same thing. Sliding her wand back up her sleeve Harry reached forward and touched the goblet, when no buzz or warning of warmth came from his ring he drank it slowly.

Hermione had positioned herself in such a way that she could keep an eye on the Weasleys from down the line of the table while Harry was drinking. She watched out of the corner of her eye as a wide smile spread across Ginny's face as she nudged Ron a little. The boy didn't seem to really care what was going on around him and moodily poked at his eggs and sausage as he glared at those around him. Hermione herself hid a small smile as she watched Harry smack his lips in delight before waving his own wand at the two parchment birds in front of him.

Parvati twisted around in her seat to watch one of the birds take flight and dive bomb through the various students towards the green and silver table at the far end of the hall. With so much going on many people didn't seem to notice it as it settled down in front of a dark haired girl sitting near the end. She was relatively alone and not speaking to anyone, but when she picked up the bird it slowly unfolded itself into a letter. The girl's cheeks turned a slight pink and a short giggle escaped her lips before she stood up and dashed out of the room heading towards the dungeons.

Lavender and Cassie watched the other bird as it took flight a few seconds after the first, but stayed low to the ground and flitted up the outside aisle behind the students towards the front of the table. As the bird got closer to its target it moved up slowly and settled down on the bench next to Ginny Weasley. She, like the Slytherin girl, took up the bird and read the accompanied note; unlike the stoic Slytherin she didn't hide the girlish squeal that came out. Her brother stared at her and noticed the note, but he couldn't read whom it was from before the girl snatched it away from him and hurried out of the Great Hall.

Just as Ginny was passing by their seat she gave a saucy wink to Harry and swayed her hips in what she might have thought was a sexy manner. It only further put off the appetites of those at the table, pushing their plates away and then laughing when the red head was out of sight. The girls all turned a slight pink as they continued to laugh, holding their sides with mirth.

"I'm almost sorry we can't be there to see what happens." Cassie got out between giggles and fits of laughter as she held onto the bench.

"Maybe we can…" Harry leaned back a little and put his arms behind his head. "Oh well, what's first for today?"

Hermione scanned down her schedule and groaned a little. The small slips of parchment had been given out at the beginning of breakfast to give the students ample time to get to their classrooms on time if they needed to go anywhere long distance in the castle. "Defense with that horrible woman once again."

Harry moved his hand to her shoulder and gently rubbed it. "Relax, it could be a lot of fun, you never know."


	6. Chapter 6

The group of Gryffindors slowly made their way through the castle towards the usual classroom that their defense class was held in for the last several years. The group was joined by Dean and Seamus with Neville hanging back slightly as if to distance him from the core members of the group. Cassie and Harry were speaking kindly while Dean and Seamus were chatting up Lavender and Parvati respectively, getting a slightly musical laugh out of the girls with a few words and hand gestures. By the time they had reached the door to the classroom the whole group was in good spirits and well prepared for anything that the pink bowed toad was going to dole out.

The Slytherins were already lined up just outside the door on one side of the hall and the Gryffindors took the other side mostly on instinct and habit than anything else. Harry caught Rachel's eye a little and inclined his head backwards to where Neville was toeing at the stone flooring and staring at his shoes lost in thought. The girl seemed to chew on her lip for a moment and gave a small nod. She turned from Harry and engaged a rather pale faced Draco in a whispered conversation only moments before the door flew open with a bang.

"Inside, now" Umbridge stood before them leaning heavily on a cane and still wearing her frilly pink cardigan that ruffled out of her loud looking purple robes. She hobbled to the side as the students entered the room and filled in the seats. When she was satisfied that everyone was seated she glared in Harry's direction and then hobbled up towards the front of the classroom. "Despite my best effort last year to teach you in the proper manner, as well as to instill order into this school as my short tenure as Headmistress I see that some hooligans are still about."

The Slytherins sneered at Harry and his friends, but he paid them no mind. Draco wasn't the only snake that didn't seem interested as he once was in taunting the lions; quite a few had simply ignored them in favor of staring at their professor. One black haired girl in particular wasn't paying attention to anything at all and instead staring out the nearby window; this of course went unnoticed by everyone besides Harry. Umbridge came around her desk and slammed her cane down on the top making several students jump in surprise.

"Wands away, you will not need them again this year." She waved her own wand and several stacks of books began sliding out from behind her and passing themselves out. "Since the Ministry considers my method of teaching to be superior then we will continue where we left off with Slinkhand last year."

Hermione seemed to almost bounce in her seat in anticipation for asking a question, but it was Harry's hand that was in the air first. Umbridge ignored him for a time, but he simply asked it anyway. "Professor, if I may, perhaps you can assail us with the thrilling tale of how you escaped the centaurs last year? I'm sure because this is a defense class we would all like to know what really happened."

At the mention of last year the woman seemed to shake slightly and then turned a rather interesting shade of pale red. "Filthy half-breeds…insolent brat…..five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn." She was muttering to herself now, her eyes glancing from one corner of the room to the other. "Filthy horses, touching me, a good pureblood woman."

Almost unseen Seamus smirked and let the book on the edge of his desk slip just slightly from where it sat on the edge. The book tipped and slammed down onto the floor in a deafening roar in the sudden silence of the room. Almost immediately Umbridge whirled about with her wand ready and fired off a black curse that slammed into Seamus and sent him flying into the nearby wall. Harry and the rest of the DA were on their feet in a moment wands raised and several shields already shimmering into existence.

"Potter, take Finnigan to the Hospital wing, and that's another fifteen points from Gryffindor for your lack of respect." Spit was now flying from the woman's mouth and even the Slytherins were backing away from her, no longer smirking at her actions.

Harry waved the others back to their seats as he moved to help Seamus to his feet and stagger towards the door. When he gave pause at the door he turned back to Umbridge and spoke in a cold low voice that echoed around the room. "You may have some authority left, ma'am, but even a Ministry official doesn't get away with attacking children unprovoked." He was out of the door before she could say anything else and hobbling downs the hallway towards the stairs.

Seamus sighed as he felt limp against Harry, hanging onto him with one arm and guiding along the hallway with the other. "Sorry, mate, I thought it would be a lark to see her jump like that."

Harry smiled as he helped the Irishman up the stairs towards another level. "It was, Seamus, bloody brilliant in the simplicity, but best to leave the pranks to the professionals."

Seamus snorted a little as they were heading down the right hallway now past a few offices that would lead to the hospital wing. "Right, I do wish the Weasley twins were back here again this year. I suppose Peeves took their order seriously enough last year that he might make a reprisal this term."

Harry gave off a short bark of a laugh as they reached the massive wooden doors that lead into the Matron's territory. "From what we saw just now I'd say with only a small amount of provoking he would have her locked away in St. Mungoes for the rest of her life."

The boys enjoyed a small laugh at the expense of the one person that was universally hated in the school as Harry dragged his dorm mate into the hospital wing. The smell of potions and the sterile environment that he always associated with the large room assaulted their noses as they maneuvered around to a nearby bed. It wasn't long when Seamus was settled on the edge of the bed that Madam Pomfrey the matron of the wing; and usually considered a rather excitable mother hen of a woman, came bustling out towards them.

"Mister Potter, I didn't expect to see you on the first day of class. Suppose you got into a scuffle with Mister Malfoy again." She clicked her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she moved toward them.

"I just wanted to see you again, Madam and for the record I don't think Mister Malfoy will be making trouble with me anytime soon." Harry smiled cheekily as he pointed down at Seamus sitting on the bed. "Professor Umbridge was a little touchy today and fired off a curse at Seamus here. We're not sure exactly what it was supposed to do, but it was black and sent him flying a good ten feet."

"Bloody hurt hitting a wall and all that." Seamus grumbled holding onto his side as the elderly woman moved forward with her wand out and muttering to herself.

"Teachers attacking students unprovoked wouldn't happen in my day. A good punishment is one thing, but harming someone simply for being in the way is just too much." She clicked her tongue again as she waved her wand over Seamus's body slowly. "You're lucky, Mister Finnigan. What she attempted was a blood boiling curse, would have killed you in a matter of hours."

Seamus paled and gripped onto the bed railing as he stared around the room. "Death? I'm going to die?"

Madam Pomfrey smiled reassuringly and handed him a glass of water and a small yellow potion vial. "No, Mister Finnigan, you're going to be just fine. I said that she attempted it, not that she succeeded."

Harry snorted a little and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not only is she inept at teaching spells she's rubbish at casting them as well."

Normally the hospital matron would admonish students for speaking in such a fashion about a fellow member of the faculty, but she merely sighed and nodded. "Aye, I remember last year with Minerva. I doubt that she would have been harmed by Delores herself, but with the Aurors with her…" She broke off and shook her head as she stood and smoothed out her robes. "I want you to stay here for at least an hour to be sure that you're cured, but there's no reason for you to stay here, Mister Potter."

Harry wished the teenager good luck in dealing with the matron before assuring him that he would take notes for him in the rest of the classes for the day. They were both in the same classes and it wouldn't be hard for Harry to give him some copies of them later on. Picking up his own bag he made for the door and slipped out unnoticed by the bustling woman as she had someone else to take care of now instead of him. He gave a small laugh at that and headed down towards the Great hall just as the bell was ringing to signify the end of the first period of lessons.

Consulting his schedule he knew that he and the rest had potions to get to after defense and he would meet up with his friends when he got down to the dungeons. He ignored Ron as always when he passed the scowling redhead in the hallway to catch up with the small group of chattering teenagers near the front of the long line of students heading away from the defense classroom. Cassie was near the head positively fuming and fingering her wand intermittently.

"oooh…If I were still an Auror I would show her a piece of my mind." Her wand gave off a few ominous sparks that had several students backing away from her, but Harry moved up and put an arm around her waist.

"Easy there, love, calm down." The term of endearment cut through her anger and she melted into his arms a little. "Seamus is going to be fine; apparently she failed at the curse."

"Anyone could have seen that one." Hermione noted as she clutched her books to her chest. "Honestly, she spent the entire rest of the time sitting at her desk and muttering to herself. Parkinson dropped her quill once and I thought for sure the old toad was going to kill her for it."

"Didn't even loose any points for it." Parvati grumbled a little and then turned to Harry. "Is Seamus going to be all right? I was hoping to visit him sometime this afternoon."

Harry smirked a little and slid his arm out from around Cassie, ignoring the slight whimper that she made as he whispered into Parvati's ear. "You don't happen to fancy Seamus do you?" She smiled brightly and shook her head quickly; a mysterious smile had appeared on her face after that. "He'll be fine, Pomfrey wanted to keep him for a bit just to be sure that the toad really couldn't perform magic." This got a laugh out of the rest of the group as they headed off to their other class for the morning.

XoXo

Moving down into the dungeon arena for Potions, Harry felt an ominous tickle down the back of his neck. His sense of danger approaching had always been finely tuned from his days with the Dursleys as well as all the adventures that he and his friends had gotten up to in the last five years of school. Now it seemed to be practically buzzing with activity, but he wasn't sure from where. The Slytherins weren't any more or less their usual surly selves, and without Malfoy to rally behind some of them had even backed off on the tormenting of other houses.

He waved it off as the group entered the dungeon classroom that potions was held in and noted, with a small amount of pity, that some of the students hadn't made it into the NEWT class. This class was made up of all four houses since it was so small and comprised of only a handful of Gryffindors, four Slytherins, six Ravenclaws, and one lone Hufflepuff.

Taking a small chance Harry sat with Hermione on his left and Rachel and Malfoy on his right. The others would arrange themselves around the two perspective people in the room with a boy named Nott paired off with a bored looking Parkinson. Within a few moments everyone had paired up, the lone Hufflepuff going with one of the other Gryffindor girls that had come along.

Snape swept into the room with his robes billowing behind him in a menacing fashion as they always had done, but there was something different in his stride this time around. As he strode up towards the front of the classroom he surveyed what the individual people were doing, his eyes briefly resting on Rachel before moving on to the others and then finally back around to the front of the room. Crossing his arms on his chest he leaned against his desk as he began to speak in little more than a whisper.

"This year the potions will be much more complex and dangerous than you have dealt with in years past." While his voice was low it still carried around the room in the dead silence that the students had come to know of the potions class. "Some potions will be used to kill and poison while others to heal and bring life. Make no mistake, when I caution you to something you should listen." He snarled a little and then swept back towards the blackboard behind him.

With a wave of his wand a potions recipe appeared on the blackboard and the students started to work. The silence of the room that had become standard was only broken by a few hushed voices talking with partners about the potion and the scraping of cauldrons on the wooden tables. In a moment small fires were created to heat ingredients and soon the small room was filled with various bubbling cauldrons and filling the air with fumes.

Waving his wand, Snape made the fumes start to vent through unseen ports in the ceiling and the walls allowing for the room to be clean in a matter of moments. That chore done he started to stalk through the aisles between the various tables checking on the progress of the potions. Malfoy and Rachel had started off well together; Rachel gathering most of the ingredients while a sullen faced Malfoy prepared and added them in the exact order listed on the board. It took a few moments for things to catch up as Rachel was reading over the listing again, Snape had come up behind her.

"Miss Black" Snape snarled, cuasing Rachel to nearly jump out of her seat. "What, do you think you are doing?"

Rachel looked up at him confused and then looked down at what she had been writing. She had been taking notes on what the potion was designed to do as well as the brewing process with the textbook opened a few feet away from her. "Making notes on the process of curing the blood replenishing potion, sir."

For a moment activity in the room seemed to ground to a halt, the only sound coming from bubbling cauldrons as all students turned to stare at the two people facing off in the middle of the room. "Is my instructions inadequate, Miss Black?" Snape growled, crossing his arms over his chest as he said it.

"No, sir, however I find that knowing more about the process and taking notes helps me to remember details about a potion later on." Rachel kept her eyes leveled at Snape whom seemed to wince slightly at the tone of her voice as well as a slight inflection towards the end.

"Brewing potions is not about taking notes, it is about following directions and you clearly cannot do that." Snape sneered for a moment before he smirked and loomed over the girl. She didn't back down even as he was getting closer and closer to her. "I believe that will be ten points from Slytherin for your insolence, Miss Black."

Now all movement in the room truly stopped, and it seemed even the cauldrons were standing perfectly frozen in time. It was an interminable amount of time later before the first gasps and exclamations came from all around the room. Professor Snape, in living memory, had never taken points from Slytherins, preferring to favor his own house repeatedly and to blame the Gryffindors or anyone else for problems caused by bullies of his own house. The class stared in awe for a moment before Rachel gave a small smile, nodded once, and turned back to her potion.

As if the entire class was unfrozen by that one movement the rest began to move around a little slower. Snape for his part sneered at the back of Rachel's head before sweeping back up towards the front of the class so that he could stand there and stare at everyone around him. It was a general bad mood that permeated the rest of the class period until it was finally time to leave. Rachel said nothing as she quietly got up from her station, cleaned her potion up and gathered her things to leave.

She briefly caught Harry's eye and he could see some mirth as well as understanding behind them before she turned away and bounced out of the room. The rest of the class got their things together and followed her out at a more sedate pace, making the Potions Master grumble about "idiot children" and "bumbling idiots" even as they were still within earshot.

XoXo

The Gryffindor group, as it had been dubbed unofficially by the girls, had made it through their respective morning classes and met in the entrance hall just before lunch was to begin. The girls were speaking excitedly about something that was supposed to be announced during lunch. Apparently the professors had a conference about something late last night and some decision had been made about the rest of the year. Rumors were already flying around about what could possibly be going on, and only Harry had some apprehension about coming into the Great Hall.

Harry's apprehension came mostly from what the _Daily Prophet_ would say about his situation with the girls. He knew that eventually the paperwork was going to be filed and it would have to be announced publicly, at some point that the girls were all under his protection. He was cringing inside waiting for the inevitable storm of angry insults both to the girls and to himself about getting involved with so many girls at such a young age. He barely stopped himself from thinking about what Mrs. Weasley was going to say when she found out. Picturing her red face screaming silently actually brought a small smile to his face.

The girls arrayed themselves around Harry same as when they had sat at breakfast with only a little exception. Neville seemed to have found he sitting next to Cassie and she had roped him into a long and involved conversation about the merits of Hufflepuffs as well as the usage of herbology and potions together. It had taken a moment for the rather reserved young man to get used to Cassie's manner of speaking, but after a moment he was excitedly explaining to her about his own personal greenhouses back at the Longbottom Manor and what he was currently working on in them.

The hall suddenly fell silent as Professor Dumbledore slowly rose from his seat. He need not have worried about tapping his glass with his fork to gain the attention of the student body. All eyes, including those of the faculty, had immediately been riveted to the ancient man standing before him even as he was rising from his seat. He spread his arms wide as he always did in the welcoming feast and his voice echoed throughout the hall almost with no magical amplification.

"Students, if I might have your attention please." He paused for a moment as if the students weren't already listening; you could hear the slight creak of the wood from the benches as the students got themselves more comfortable. "A grave injustice has been brought to my attention through the efforts of several studious upper year students." His eyes swept around the room and a few girls around Harry seemed to quiver a little in anticipation. "This injustice has to deal with the social activities offered here at Hogwarts. While clubs and study groups are always encouraged, for the most part they are geared towards a singular, academic, purpose. To rectify this, the staff and I have decided to hold a series of balls this coming year."

"Balls?" A seventh year prefect from Slytherin squeaked out, much to the uproarious laughter of those from the other side of the hall.

Dumbledore gave a small smile and nodded. "Indeed, a series of balls, or dances as some will undoubtedly be informal. They will be nothing like the Yule Ball of two years ago, however there will be at least one semi-formal around Yule time as well as one for sure on Valentine's Day."

Dean and Seamus were shaking their heads on the other side of the table from Harry as they tried to look up and down the table a little. Seamus had leaned across the table and stage whispered to Harry. "You think I could borrow one of your fine lady friends, Harry?"

Lavender, which was sitting next to the Irishman had leaned over and slapped him on the arm. "We already know whom you really want to go with, so why not ask them instead of bothering Harry?"

Seamus had turned beat red, but Harry was being accosted by Cassie now instead to notice. "That does bring up an interesting question, Harry."

Harry looked confused as he looked around the table at the ladies that were aligning themselves around him. He had come to really respect their opinions and see past their exteriors, but he did still know that they were amazingly beautiful. "All right, I give, what's the issue with the dances?"

Hermione smiled and summed it up rather nicely. "The problem, Harry, is that you can't take all of us at once. You're going to have to decide who you're going to take to each of them and let the others get some dates."

Harry groaned as he let his head fall forward and slam hard against the table just below the gold plates. "Ugh, why does having a harem have to be so complicated? And here I thought….nope…bad thoughts."

Some of the girls giggled and a few even turned red from the revelation, but Cassie smiled and squirm a little, putting a hand on his thigh under the table. "You know, Harry, as our Leige Lord…"

"No, bad thoughts!" Harry said venemently, cutting the girl off and sending the rest of that section of the table into hysterics. He could see a small redhead down the line looking jealously up at the girls and he got a small idea. "Although, Cassie, if you're really offering I do know of a small alcove where we can see everything, but they wouldn't be able to see us."

Cassie turned pink for a moment before she slapped him on the arm. "Stop it. And I already know the alcove you're talking about."

Hermione shook her head as Parvati looked between the two. "Her, I can understand, but how would you know about it, Mister Potter?" The girls leveled a glare at the young man, but he didn't flinch even under their combined might.

"Nice try, but unless you're going to disclose this conversation to McGonagall and then have her ask me, I'm not saying anything." Harry crossed his arms over his chest and smiled.

"Professor McGonagall? Why would you talk to her and not us about it?" Lavender asked as she scraped the bottom of her plate and finished off the foot, daintily dabbing at the corner of her mouth with the corner of the napkin.

"Have you seen that woman's glare, I bet even Voldemort himself wouldn't be able to hang on for very long before he's spilling his sins out to her. And that's when I haven't done anything wrong." He shuddered a little and caused the others at the table to break out into laughter again. Dean and Seamus were hanging onto one another as well as were Hermione and Parvati.

Hermione released Parvati and then glanced over her shoulder to the Ravenclaw table. She smiled a little and gave Luna a little nod before turning back to Harry. "Harry….I was wondering…"

The teenager boy smiled a little and sighed. "Your patrol with Ron tonight will probably get cut short by Ginny's 'date'." He took the time to use quotation fingers around the last word before he continued to speak. "In that case I don't see why you two shouldn't go and enjoy a little time to yourselves. I would suggest the Room of Requirement myself as you can set it so that you can't be found for quite some time." The resulting flush of Hermione's cheeks caused him to smile a little.

Cassie grinned at the embarrassment of the girl and then nudged Harry in the side with her elbow. "You never did tell us, Casanova, who are you planning on taking to the balls in question?"

Lavender giggled a little as she spoke in before Hermione could. "I suppose Hermione, Luna and I could work up a dance schedule. I suppose in theory you could dance with all of your lieges with each ball and still have a good time."

Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair a little. "I guess that makes sense, but if any of you get asked and you want to accept then feel free." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "I won't hear of it, you all each have your own lives and you should enjoy them."

Parvati smiled and kissed Harry on the cheek quickly before standing and brushing her skirt off a little. "You could have a harem, Mister Potter of very willing witches and yet you constantly think of our own minds and our own desires." Harry flushed a little in embarrassment causing the girls at the table to release a collective "aww…"

"Ok, ok." Harry held up his hands as he looked around the Great Hall. "I'm going to take care of a few things tonight, hopefully for good." The girl's perked up a little and leaned in closer. "I'll share the crystals with the rest of you, but I'm going to need some help."

"Count all of us in, I know that au-cousin Claire is a little upset over not having enough time with Harry here." Cassie smiled as she pointed out Claire still sitting at the Ravenclaw table chatting with Luna. The two looked up and blushed at the attention given them and then looked down.

Harry smiled as he got a small inkling of an idea. "Hermione, you and Ron are going to be on patrol tonight, correct?" At her reluctant nod he smiled even more. "I know it's a horrible job, but I want you to pay particular attention to the Astronomy tower tonight, you'll find out why later. Parvati and Lavender, unless they have other plans are going to help me out with a little spying."

"Ooooh….secret agent Patil reporting for duty." Parvati snapped her hand to her forehead in a mock salute that got the others laughing.

"I'll assume that you're using us specifically for the whole rumor queen mantra that everyone seems to believe." While the words might have been harsh, the playful tone and the light smile on her face showed everyone that Lavender had accepted whatever everyone called her and simply went with it.

"If you don't want to…" Harry started only to have Lavender put a hand on his lips. Down the table he could see Ron seething seeing as how Ginny had already left to get ready for her 'date.'

"We'll do what we can to help you out. Just let us know where we have to be and what we have to do." Harry nodded slowly at what Lavender was saying.

"Cassie….I want you to gather your…cousins. I know that I haven't spent nearly enough time with Rachel and Claire that I should. It should be before Rachel's detention as I'll have to be in the common room later on tonight."

While everyone was getting confused, Hermione got a small smile on her face. "An alibi. Ginny thinks that she's meeting you tonight, Ron will keep an eye on you, and probably warn his brothers about what you're going to do tonight, but when a room full of people can say that you were in the common room the entire time…"

Harry smiled and nodded. "No need to get in the way of some rather angry brothers if something should happen. In the end it doesn't matter what Ginny and Ron think, but I would like to stay in good graces with the twins for as long as I can." The others smiled as he clapped his hands together. "Now then, let's go cause some mayhem."


	7. Chapter 7

Nightly patrols of the prefects were supposed to be a time for the pair to get to know one another and to make sure that no rule breaking was going on in the halls of Hogwarts. For most of the prefects it was a mildly annoying time having to bust friends or housemates for breaking silly rules that they themselves saw little point in. There were the odd couples that would purposefully lay in wait for people to come to a specific place or break a certain rule before sweeping down upon them and docking points or assigning detention. There was a great many prefects that, while the chore was annoying, didn't mind doing it the once or twice a week that was being forced upon them. Hermione Granger was a completely different story.

The year previously when she was first made a prefect she thought of all the wonderful responsibility that she would have to take on and felt up to the challenge. During the school year, what with Umbridge's reign of terror against Harry and the general malaise of Ron, she felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of being a prefect and a student at the same time. She was generally upset with the fact that Ron didn't bother to do even the most basic of prefect duties like taking away banned items from the students that would blatantly use them in front of the rather lazy prefect. While that was bad, Hermione held out hope that maybe Ron would mature over the summer and get better with enforcing the rules; unfortunately for her, none such thing had taken place.

Because of the rather forceful falling out that the trio had over the summer, starting with the letter and ending with her rather comical potions accident, Ron didn't seem inclined to help more than the bare minimum this year. With the patrols, the prefects were supposed to look in broom cupboards, check classroom doors, and basically keep an eye out for anyone that might be sneaking around at night. Previously Hermione and Ron would talk and argue occasionally while walking on patrols, with Hermione doing most of the checking while Ron just complained about Umbridge and the Slytherins or some new stupid Quidditch thing that had just come out on the market. She took a little pride in the fact that she was doing a good job, but had to console herself that Ron would get whatever credit as well if something major happened, even if he did nothing at all.

The first patrol night for the Gryffindor sixth year prefects started off well enough with them meeting in the common room. Harry had already met with the three girls a few hours before just after dinner and was sitting reading a textbook preparing for class when the two prefects got together for the usual pre-patrol rundown. Ron made a show of glaring at Harry for most of the time before Hermione had to physically drag the redhead out of the portrait hole and into the hallway.

"Now then, we should-" Hermione was talking before she got rudely interrupted.

"Piss off, traitor." Ron grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he started to walk up the halls at random. The boy rarely followed the route that they were supposed to take, randomly walking in circles for an hour and then proclaiming that they were done.

Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes as she followed behind him. For Harry's plan to work perfectly they needed to be at a certain point in the patrol at a certain time, and it would only ruin things if Ron walked off randomly again. "Ron, we have to work together or at least walk together."

Ron gave a grunt to say that he had heard her, but didn't bother slowing down or changing direction. At the first turn, Hermione rushed ahead of him and followed the proscribed route, forcing the redhead to either follow her or disappear down into the dungeons alone. This was a calculated risk on her part as she knew that he could very well decide to go off on his own, but her instincts held true and he followed her. She had counted on his fear of being alone near the Slytherin common room to override any hatred that he had for her and she was thus far proven correct.

The route hadn't changed in so many years that Hermione could almost do it on autopilot, looking at random doors to make sure that they were locked and listening at broom cupboards to make sure that they weren't occupied at the moment. Her mind on this patrol was a little off however as she thought about what Harry had wanted accomplished as well as what had happened with the redhead that was walking next to her. She worried her lip for a moment and then opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't bother; I don't want to hear anything that you have to say." Ron crossed his arms over his chest and purposefully looked away. "Let's get this over with quickly, I want to get back to my Quidditch magazine."

"That's all you think about, Quidditch and food, Ronald." Hermione retorted, all her prepared remarks about mending their friendship had seemingly flew from her mind as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the man next to her. "Grow up, Ronald. You've moped around for long enough acting like the jealous prat that you are."

"Listen, traitor." Ron spun on her and for a moment she thought that he was going to physically strike her. "I wasn't the one that went running to precious Potter as soon as something happened that you couldn't control. Everyone thinks that he's so great, even my bloody sister…" He was mumbling at this point and had turned on his heel and was stomping down the hallway towards the stairs that led up towards the Astronomy Tower.

"What did Harry ever do to you except save your life a dozen times and that of your sister and your father; don't you remember any of that?" She held up a hand to stop him and forcefully poked him in the chest, making him stumble a little from the strength. "And, if I remember right, it was your sluty little sister and you that insisted you come with Harry to the Ministry last year, and no one dragged you along."

They had reached the base of the stairs to the Astronomy Tower when Ron turned on Hermione with his wand raised and pointed between her eyes. "How dare you insult my sister? I seem to remember a friendless nobody latching on-"

Hermione interrupted him. "Shut up and listen, you idiot." He was going to retort with something nasty when he actually started to listen and heard it to.

From down the stairs they could hear the soft gentle moans of a female voice. The moans seemed to be rather heated and they could both tell that whoever was up there was rather active as there was some grunting also involved. Ron turned a little red, but he started to make for the stairs with Hermione on his heels with a small grin. She wasn't sure what they would find, but she was pretty sure on whom they would be finding. As inconspicuous as she could she slipped a small green crystal into the palm of her hand and tapped it with her wand, turning it to face outwards from the folds of her robes.

She had just finished the activation of the crystal when Ron burst through the door at the top of the tower with his wand out and squinting into the darkness. The night was rather clear with a half crescent moon hanging just a few degrees off to the left side of the tower offering very little light to the small scene. The pair of prefects could just make out a pair of bodies writhing together on the ground before them on what looked to be a large blanket in the very still and silent night; the moans were even louder now than they had been at the base of the stairs.

"All right, you two, break it up." Ron advanced towards the pair as they sprang apart and attempted to cover themselves with the blanket, neither doing a very good job of it. Ron's wand lit up at a command and he moved forward to throw the figures into the light. "All right then, det….GINNY?" The redhead had stopped when the light of his wand had thrown into contrast the sweaty and rather red face of his sister.

"Ron, how dare you interrupt my date with Harry? And stop looking at me like that, I'm a grown woman now." While she was still clothed for the most part in a rather risqué lingerie that covered her breasts and down to her stomach with a matching set of panties, it still showed off quite a bit of cleavage. The set was pretty well transparent showing off the flabby stomach and wide hips of the girl.

"Harry's in the common room, I saw him there before we left." Ron threw his hands in the air and motioned back towards Hermione whom was still standing near the door and trying her hardest not to burst out laughing. She had lit her wand as well, but kept it close to the door, wanting Ron to be the one to discover the identity of the other figure with Ginny.

"Then who…" Ginny stopped as she was trying to squint through the darkness at the identity of her companion. It was rather embarrassing not to know the identity of her lover, but she had originally thought that the darkness added some romance and mystery to the entire encounter. Now she was thinking that this might not have been such a good idea in the first place.

Ron swept his wand to the left towards the other hulking figure that was next to Ginny and trying valiantly to pull the blanket over the figure. The light from the wand made the figure full in contrast and forced both of the redheads to pale and hold back their vomit; in the background Hermione was trying her hardest not to laugh her ass off. Sitting in the pale light was the rather large figure of Millicent Bulstrode.

It seemed that the large girl had tried to doll herself up for the night and her face was painted with red lipstick and a faint dusting of blush across her cheeks. The make-up didn't do much to hide the rather manly features of the poor girl or the rather large boil that showed clearly now on the side of her neck. Her greasy black hair had been done in a long elegant braid that fell to the middle of her back showing off her broad shoulders. Like Ginny she had tried to go for the sultry and sexy with the lingerie, but the pureblood clearly didn't know what accentuated her body. The nightie that she wore looked more like a black trash bag with holes for her arms, legs and head.

"But…But…." Ginny was stammering as she stared into the cobalt eyes of her mystery lover sitting across from her. The redhead had let the blanket slip a little showing off more skin than she would have if she had the presence of mind to remember that her brother was standing in front of her.

Bulstrode pouted a little, making it more like she was constipated than anything. She rounded on the two prefects still standing nearby; Ron had frozen on the spot while his mouth worked up and down in a slow motion. "We'll be good, we promise, just let me take care of my Venus like she needs it." She leaned closer to Ginny and licked her large lips.

The motion of the larger girl towards the smaller seemed to send a bolt of energy through the redhead like caffeine in a squirrel. The half-second before the large girl's lips could proceed to re-enact what had been going on moments before the redhead had screeched, jumped up and bolted towards the door that Hermione was still standing beside. The prefect let her go by as she was waving her arms in the air and screaming bloody murder at the time; and mostly because Hermione was trying so hard to prevent herself from falling over laughing that she just didn't have the mental capacity to stop the poor girl.

"Ginny darling, wait for me!" Bulstrode had jumped up and skipped towards the door, taking her time making it down the stairs, the two still left on the tower could hear her calling out. "My Goddess, I wish to worship at your feet…"

Hermione let out a small snort and turned back towards the door leading down before she realized that Ron wasn't with her. The lanky redhead was still standing staring at the now empty blanket with his lit wand turned lightly to the side. His mouth was opening and closing slowly as if he were a fish out of water, but no sound was coming out. He hadn't moved the entire time that the girls had already moved away and his eyes were still fixed on the spot where they had been seated only moments before.

The girl took a little pity on the poor boy and came up behind him, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. When that proved no response she decided to try a little more direct. "Ron, the Cannons won the Cup!"

This seemed to do it as he whirled around with a wide smile on his lips before he looked around and seemed to remember where he was. "What are we doing up here, Hermione?" He waggled his eyebrows at her a little as he leered. "Did we come up here for you to apologize properly?"

Hermione tried to hold in her laughter, she really did, but finally she let out a loud snort and started to laugh. Clutching her stomach she turned back towards the door and looked back over her shoulder. "Ginny and Bulstrode." That was all it took for the boy to turn a sickly green and rush towards the side of the tower. In a moment the sound of retching could be heard as well as far away splashes of vomit hitting the courtyard far below the tower.

XoXo

Harry was able to pass on the message that he wanted to talk to Claire, Cassie and Rachel all together in an unused classroom just after dinner. Cassie was easiest as she was with him at the table, and Luna passed on the message to Claire and Rachel as well. He had gotten confirmation that all the girls wanted to meet with him as well and spend some time catching up. It had been a hectic few days since they were back and it would be even more as time went on.

Harry entered the classroom to find an odd scene before him. Claire was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room sending off curses every once in a while to either side of the room. There was already a pile of broken desks and chairs piled up towards the front of the room as well as a few scorch marks on either side of the door when he entered. He could hear her muttering something as she continued to pace, seemingly not seeing him coming into the room. Cassie and Rachel were off to the side behind a rather impressive blue dome shield that was produced from a wand sitting on the table between them; the strange thing was that the two girls were sitting with a desk and a deck of cards between them.

Slipping around the raging girl and into the small dome of protection caused the sound of the girl's voice to be silenced. Harry looked down at the pair as he shook his head. "What's going on here?"

Both girls didn't even look up when he came near them and it was a moment later before Cassie cried out. "Gin!" She slammed down her entire hand and even Harry could see that it only contained five cards.

"For the last time, you little airhead, we're playing poker." Rachel snarled and threw her cards down on the top of the pile of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans that had amassed in the middle of the table. Her voice showed that she was irritated, but not really enough to be truly angry.

Cassie stuck her tongue out at her former aunt and scooped the beans into a small pile that she had on her side of the table. "You're just jealous that I won, again." She cut off the older girl from saying anything more by finally turning towards Harry. "Oh, there you are, lover boy."

Harry smiled and shook his head before indicating the still silently fuming witch that was pacing behind him. "Something that I should know about?"

Rachel sighed and shook her head as she watched her sister still pacing and throwing curses as she walked. "Don't worry about her, she gets like this sometimes when someone really pisses her off. Even with the rings Lucius still managed to piss her off this bad a few times." She shook her head slowly. "It was actually fun to see him cowering behind a couch while she methodically shredded it to pieces while screaming at him."

Cassie giggled a little. "Do we even need to ask what he did to deserve such a thoroughly pissed off super-witch?"

Rachel's eyes misted over with pain for a moment, causing Harry to be at her side and wrapping his arms around the witch. He gently squeezed her closer to him as he smiled. "You never have to go back to them, ever, you have my promise on that. At the very least you'll be able to blast the sick bastard into space for what he did to you and your sister." He felt a small tinkling warmth in the back of his head that reminded him of laughter and a feeling that almost guaranteed that something like that was going to happen to the former husbands.

Cassie reached over and gripped the witch's hand as well giving it a small squeeze. "You have a whole family here to support you now. You don't have to worry about anything happening like that again. We'll make sure that any boy that wants to date you has to go through a rigorous screening process."

Rachel giggled as she wiped her eyes on Harry's shirt before looking at the pair of them. "Thank you both so much. I know that I have a good support here now that I can lean on." She sighed and took a deep breath. "I suppose part of my future should be forgiving my past. Do you think I should talk to Neville?" This was directed at Harry.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his black hair for a moment before he fixed the girl with a hard stare directed into her eyes. "I know that it's going to be hard on him as well as yourself to rehash some of the past. My advice would be to get to know the boy a little more before throwing yourself at his feet and begging for mercy. I do still have the memory of your confession about the rings as well as everything else, but I don't want him to have to see it."

The girls were silent for a moment before a loud crash drew their attention back around. Claire was standing in the middle of the room with her arms by her side and fuming so much that her nostrils were flared and her aura was almost visible. A faint haze of air was around her as she glared hard at the seemingly innocent trio that was just sitting there before a table. Almost out of instinct, or survival, Rachel dislodged herself from Harry and joined Cassie in diving behind the table and cowering in fear. It took a moment; it seemed, for the blonde haired girl to finally realize who was standing before her.

"Oh, Hello Harry, when did you get here?" The girl seemed to visibly deflate as if she was going to fall down at any moment. Harry was at her side and gently lead her over to a chair where she collapsed down into it. "Thank you, I haven't let loose that much raw magic in so long I forgot how exhausting it could be."

She was going to continue when a small stick rose up over the side of the table brandishing what appeared to be a white undershirt. "Is it safe to come out yet?" Cassie sounded fearful as she waved the small make-shift flag around.

Harry chuckled while Claire flushed a little and muttered about immature children, but eventually the two behind the table were allowed to come up and join them seated around the table. Cassie hopped up onto the side of an overturned desk and dangled her legs down the side. Rachel took up a slightly more dignified seating on a nearby chair that had been ripped from the accompanying desk; the desk portion of the combination lay in five or six pieces scattered around the room in a wide arc from the middle of the floor where the irate teenager had been pacing. In fact there was a large cleared open space on the floor before the debris was piled up along the walls almost to the point of blocking the door.

"All right, I don't have a lot of time. I've got to be back in the common room before Hermione and Ron take off for their patrol." Harry spoke first, seated still at the side of the table with Claire on the other side of him and turned so that he could see all three of them. "I wanted to touch base with you all though since I know that we don't get to spend a lot of time together."

"Why don't you have a lot of time tonight?" Cassie asked as she swung her legs back and forth a little, dangling her Mary Jane from her toes a little as she had partially slipped it off her foot.

"They both have to see me for our prank on Ginny to work tonight." He smiled as the others snickered, but Claire seemed to be lost in thought. He touched her shoulder and she nearly jumped in the air.

"I'm sorry." She flushed a little as she looked at the other three. "I was just a little upset about what I heard in the common room before I came down here." The others didn't have to ask her as she let out a long breath before she started speaking again. "I was helping Luna get ready for her date with Hermione tonight when I heard a few things that I got me angry."

"Luna's going to surprise Hermione with a nice date tonight after her rounds?" Rachel asked as she sat down next to her sister on a chair and wrapped her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders.

Claire smiled and nodded. "She's going to take a picnic basket filled with all sorts of good food down to one of the unused classrooms on the fifth floor and spread out a blanket. She's already got the candles and everything set up." She sighed a little wistfully. "I was helping her with her hair when I heard…" She broke off and looked as if she was going to start throwing curses around once more.

Harry gently patted her shoulder. "Is it something to do with other Ravenclaws or are you pining after your days of being a married woman?"

Claire flushed a little and glared at Harry. "I never loved Lucius, but it was nice to be a nicely kept woman at times, yes. What had me so mad though was a little….childish….I mean….I can't believe I let her get to me like that." She sighed and let her head fall onto her crossed arms, her hair falling around her head and obscuring her face briefly from the other three.

"We can take a magical oath not to tell anyone that you nearly destroyed the castle if it will make you feel any better." Cassie said it with all seriousness, but there was a large smile threatening to push the boundaries of facial muscles.

Claire giggled through the mass of curls that was her hair before she began to speak. Her voice was small, but it still got to the other three around the table. "I was helping Luna with her hair in the common room when I overheard Cho Chang holding court. She seemed to be under the impression that Harry here was going to be her new beau for the year."

Harry groaned and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, one horrible date and the girl thinks that she and I are soul mates." The girl's giggled a little before Clair continued.

"At any rate she kept going on and on about what happened last year, making it seem like you two snogged until your lips were sore and then went on to shag in Hogsmeade. According to her, your breaking up was an elaborate ruse to confuse the Ministry so that her family wasn't targeted the same as you were last year. She expects to get back together sometime soon."

Harry waved his hand around the destroyed room. "And all of this is from that?" Claire flushed a little, only seen because it reached her hair and seemed to color her face the same shade as a tomato. The other two didn't make any comment, but Harry smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for getting mad for me, but honestly I don't care about her anymore."

Claire pulled her head up and stared into Harry's eyes for a while, getting lost in the color before Rachel's voice broke through the haze. "What actually did happen between you two?"

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he stepped back and started to pace. Rachel and Cassie had to smile when he assumed the same route that their supposed sister had been taking only a moment before. "I kissed her just before the Christmas holidays, worst possible kiss that could have happened. She was so wet from crying her eyes out that I could barely keep a hold of her lips." The girls snickered, but didn't say anything as he continued. "Then that date….ugh….Madam Puddifoots."

A bark of laughter came from Cassie just before she toppled over the desk and out of sight. A slight thud and a cloud of dust came up before she struggled back towards her perch. "She actually took you there, on your first date?"

"I assume you know a little about the place." Harry raised his eyebrow a little that caused the clumsy girl to almost fall back over her small and precarious perch.

"A little. I used to take boys there to scare them off, would give this whole girly girl routine wanting all the lace and such." She shuddered as she tapped her finger against her chin. "Worked all the way up to George Carmichael who seemed to rather enjoy the frilly things in life; he's living in Devonshire with a muggle lawyer now if I'm not mistaken."

Harry waved it away a little. "In any case, I had to meet Hermione later that day and invited Cho along, but she flew into a rage about me meeting another girl."

Rachel winced slightly and shook her head. "You're such a boy, but I guess I can't expect you to do everything right. Yes, it was a little insensitive that you were meeting another girl while you were supposed to be out with Cho."

"That was the day I gave the interview for the Quibbler though." Harry paused and stared up at the ceiling. "You think Hermione scheduled that meeting on purpose so that it would disrupt my date?"

Claire shrugged her shoulders as she picked at a few beans still left on the table as if she were looking for something in particular. "I suppose it's possible, but it wouldn't matter much at the moment considering you're a bachelor and she's courting the lovely Miss Lovegood."

He shrugged. "I guess I can't blame her if she did, it did save me the embarrassment of having to leave that horrid tea shop with an excuse of my own." He gave a shudder a little as did Cassie and then broke out in laughter at the synchronized movement.

Claire giggled slightly, some of her earlier anger and frustration bleeding away into exhaustion as she gave a loud yawn. "You should probably also know that two of the new Puffs are also vying for your attentions."

Harry had to pause a moment in thought before he groaned and slapped his hand against his forehead. "I completely forgot about them. I'm such a bad friend, but how would you know about it?"

Claire giggled again. "Apparently it's no secret that I'm in thick with you or at least with your friends as I was cornered by the little one….Morgan I think her name was. She was increasingly excited when I told her that I was indeed a friend of yours and would pass on that she and her sister both wanted to speak with you about something."

Harry groaned and closed his eyes, staring up at the ceiling that made Rachel and Cassie start to giggle. "All right, all right. I didn't think you three would get acclimated to your teenage hormones quite so quickly." This got a blush from all three of the girls, but Rachel recovered faster.

"Damn puberty. It was hell going through it the first time. Now all of a sudden I have these thoughts of boys and fashion." She threw herself on the floor and started beating her fists into the ground. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

Cassie couldn't take it and toppled over backwards off her chair once more, sending up a cloud of dust. "I'm ok, just a little bruised." Her voice came up a little muffled from the other side of the debris wall.

Claire stood slowly and moved to her sister's side. "Come on, you crazy witch. I'll walk you back to the dungeons and we can talk about your newly discovered love life."

Rachel hopped to her feet and dusted off her robes. She got an evil glint in her eye as she stared at her sister and hooked her arm around the other witch. "Oh, but talking about your not so secret love life is much more interesting. I do have to wonder when all that pent up frustration is going to cause you to…" But by the time she was there she had already moved beyond the door and pulled the flushed Claire around the corner with her.

Harry shook his head as Cassie launched herself off the wall and sprinted towards the door. "Hey you two, I want to hear about Claire's sordid love life as well. We all know which wizard she wants to bounce-"

"Shut the bloody hell up!" The voice echoed across the stones and down the hallway, only drowned out by the laughter of the other two girls. Harry laughed as well, although not knowing quite sure why before he fixed up the room and left it in pristine condition heading back towards his own common room whistling a jaunty tune.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N The long awaited update is finally here! I'm sorry, but between chasing my toddler son around the house and work it's hard to get in a good chapter in time. I will leave a disclaimer on this chapter for future one's that says basically that all my work is un-Betaed so if you find something like grammar, spelling, or the usage of pronouns to be off, let me know and I'll fix it. On a related note, anyone that wants to be my Beta, send me a message.**

The heavy wooden gavel struck the marble counter top with a loud bang that echoed throughout the circular room. The gavel fell once more with another loud bang that seemed to silence even those that had no longer been talking after the first noise. The gavel was superfluous as those occupants of the round stone room were silent upon entering and had not taken the time to really get to know their fellows seated around them. It was more of a tradition than anything that kept the gavel from simply being discontinued and the practice of simply going straight to the heart of the meeting. As it was there were fifteen people seated around a large round stone table facing one another, and yet concealed in shadow charms and voice modifications; no one truly knew who they were addressing at any one point or another even though there were code names for each councilor.

The room in which the council met was nondescript as anything around it. It was stone, roughly hewn and showing aging that dated back long before the creation of Hogwarts. The stones were impossibly smooth as well, showing no cracks or breaks except for the expected masonry. There were three doors set along the wall at odd intervals each bearing a different crest. The first was a large letter M with two crossed wands firing red and gold stars that encircled the letter. The second was a large letter D with a crossed sword and wand with an inscription along the sword in an ancient long forgotten language. The last was a large letter P with the tail forming the point of a sword that pierced down into the heart of a large shield.

"We will come to order." The man, if anything could be told about the councilor, spoke with authority as he rapped the gavel lightly against the stone of the table once more before placing it placidly before him. Like his fellows this man was shadowed, and only the robes could be seen. Everyone wore identical robes of red with gold piping along the collar and down one of the sides. An insignia was on the left breast of the robe depicting a phoenix in flight surrounded by blue flames. "I believe that we have some new business on the table this evening."

"Indeed, your honor." A woman's voice spoke up somewhere near the middle of the group and slowly stood to her feet so that those on the other side of the table could acknowledge that she was the one that was speaking. "I have a proposition to put forth concerning the rise of the so called Dark Lord Voldemort." There was no silly flinching or gasping from the fellows around her.

"Voldemort has been discussed at length both recently as well as within the council some twenty years ago." A man a short distance around the circumference of the circle spoke up when it became apparent that no one else would.

The man with the gavel nodded slowly and turned towards the woman still standing. "It was the policy of this council both then and recently that we should not involve ourselves in the internal disputes of a single nation."

There was nodding around the room, but the woman waved her hand for silence. "If this Voldemort remains unchecked for too long he could become an international entity. We would be risking another fiasco such as the scale of Grindelwald." Several of the older members around the circle muttered darkly about the comparison, but kept their tongues out of reverence for the policies governing the body before them.

The man with the gavel spoke again, raising his hand in a gentile manner to forestall any immediate argument. "We made a mistake with Grindlewald, that's true. We were not able to see past our own arrogances to understand that he was able to appeal to both wizard and muggle alike to further his aims. Is it possible then, councilor, that Voldemort will turn the same way?"

The woman fidgeted for a moment before straightening her back. "He does not have the same drive that the former Dark Lord once held and he forsakes all muggle ties that could be of use to him." She paused to let this information sink in before speaking quickly. "He is a threat to us all, though, no matter what we hold dear."

Another woman a few places over from the speaker rose to address everyone, nodding politely to the other woman still standing. "The councilor makes an argument that is logical. If we are not to act now, what is to say that this Voldemort does not become what Grindlewald could not?" She sat down as the others were muttering to one another on the other side of the table.

The man with the gavel tapped it lightly into the stone and then spoke up once more. "We have been called into order many times throughout the ages and have not acted, preferring to stay true to our original course of purpose. Should we now break with that tradition simply because we are too afraid to see the coming of another Dark Lord?"

The woman was not to be deterred by the unflappable fact that Voldemort would never be as powerful as some of the older Dark Lords no matter what he boasted. "The Ancient One had a purpose for our group and I believe that it is an extension of that purpose to help the world in order to bring about peace. Would he not ask us to act in his stead should something happen to his birth country?"

The man with the gavel was nodding slowly, but indicated another man along the table that seemed ready to almost bolt out of his seat. The man slowly stood and smoothed down the robes that he wore in a practiced and well cultured move. "The Ancient One formed this order with the singular purpose at the time of creation. With that threat passed and indeed seemed to be well taken care of to this point in time, are we simply jumping to conclusions that this Voldemort will be just as bad? Many of us have heard the legends from our forefathers; could this man be as bad as that which brought our ancestors and the Ancient One together?"

The man with the gavel was slowly shaking his head before the mutterings around the room could get much more above a dull whisper. "No, indeed the Ancient One brought together the first council to take care of a problem that would have devastated the entire world if not those of others." He shook his head again as he indicated the still standing woman. "Councilor, I know that it was not your purpose to make such a comparison, but I am curious as to your reasoning behind this request."

The woman paused for a moment before she started to speak in a low voice that carried nevertheless around the room with ease. "All of us have had family and friends that have been affected by the civil wars of the wizarding world throughout the centuries. Having one so near to the last will devastate not only the population, but the economy as well. This could very well be the tipping point where the magical community is to be exposed to the world of muggles. If it is, will we be standing along the sidelines muttering in the dark…" She waved her hand around at the stone room as if in contempt of the accommodations. "…or should we be shown in the light as to be fighting to restore the peace of the entire world, not just a singular nation?"

The man with the gavel had tapped it a few times on the stone to restore the small twittering of conversation that had erupted back to silence. He seemed to pause for a moment as he turned the gavel over in his hands a few times as if inspecting it for flaws. "The question before us is not whether or not we should support the light or the dark in this coming conflict, but whether or not to allow ourselves to be exposed for such a small reason?" He held up a hand to forestall the expected arguments from both sides. "It is what it comes down to. If we openly declare that we are entering the fray, even if we try to be subtle about it, then we make ourselves targets. We have mostly survived this long through cunning and misdirection on our parts."

The woman that had been speaking seemed to stiffen a little at the mention of exposing the group, but she seemed to relax slightly when she spoke next. "If we are to be exposed it would best to do it on the side of the light within this context. There is already too many people who have begun to suspect too many things about what our true purpose relies upon."

A man around the table nodded fervently and stood up slowly as he was recognized by the others. "Already there have been two more attempts within the last few months. The first during the summer was by far the most daring, but they were turned away and warned the same as the others. If they keep returning from Voldemort then it is probable that he knows more than he is letting on."

The man with the gavel spoke quietly and let his voice carry around the room. "Both Dumbledore and the Ministry have spies within the ranks of the Death Eaters and are assured that he is no closer to discovering our secret than those that have come before him. It is troubling, yes, that he is being so tenacious and callous in sending his followers to their deaths, however it is not our concern to worry over those that willingly give their lives to a hopeless cause."

"They do not feel that it is hopeless and will therefore dedicate their lives and those of their children to it should they wish." Another woman sniffed a little disdainfully down the row. "It is rather impudent of the lot of them to believe such and the children…" She huffed in indignation that sparked a few nods around the table.

The original woman was still standing however and tried one last time to push the issue. "If what you say is true then we are already found out and will soon be splashed across the _Daily Prophet_ or similar media outlets. If we were to come forward before such a public outcry…"

The man with the gavel shook his head gravely. "If what you say is true and we are found out then there is no point in coming forward with our own story. The populace will believe what it wants to about us, and in the past secret societies have never gotten good press." He chuckled a little and shook his head again. "We should wait and see what is found and respond accordingly, but that is only my wish and we must put this all to a vote." He banged the gavel three times in quick succession before speaking again. "A vote has been called about our participation in the upcoming war with the so called Dark Lord Voldemort, how does the council vote?"

Each person had touched the table with the left or the right hand and illuminating a small stone that appeared before each of them. The stone glowed a certain color based on their vote and then was swept along the edge of the table towards the man with the gavel. In reality the color of the lights had no real meaning as they changed from one session to the next; it was one way of keeping the voting semi-anonymous so that there were no reprisals for a vote at the next session. The man with the gavel was the only one that knew what the lights meant and was able to get a consensus from the magic of the room. It only took a few moments for the lights to be tallied and for the vote to come out inside of the small space of the table before the man with the gavel.

"The council has voted…" He paused as he read through the result while it was backed up by the magic of the room into the archive that was several miles away from the main meeting place. It was a failsafe against any tampering as well as any of the council could use their positions around the table to call up the final vote as well; it was this check and balance that each councilor could ensure that the man with the gavel wasn't making up the result. "….we will not be openly declaring us against Voldemort at this time."

The mutterings of the others drowned out the silent cursing of the woman as she sank back down into her seat. The council dissolved for a moment into pairs and trios speaking privately on a few things that had come up in their own areas that might need to be discussed on a whole. The rest of the session would be taken up mostly by small issues and petty arguments about what to be done with this boundary or that piece of magical artifact that might be found. The important issues were dealt with at the beginning of each session to take the brunt of the time needed to make decisions. The sad fact of the session was that Voldemort was still a topic of discussion; the war hanging over the heads of the entire magical world was coming very close to their sacred hall. While it had been decided that the war was not of the caliber of those in the past, it would still be scrutinized carefully.

XoXo

The crisp autumn air was nearly perfect for a weekend of flying. While there was the waiting chill of winter in the air, the sky was still clear with a small breeze coming out of the south. Most of the Quidditch stadium would be protected from the wind except for those players higher up such as the seekers and the beaters. It was these two positions that would necessitate a slightly higher than usual stance to be taken and would therefore need some good flyers in those positions. Because of the ban from last year, and the rather abysmal performance of some of the players, it had been decided by those still remaining on the team that they would hold full tryouts.

Even though Ron and Ginny had been suspended, both officially by McGonagall and unofficially by Harry, Katie, and Alicia, they would still show up for the tryouts. Kirke and Sloper both showed up in their uniforms, but told Harry that they would be trying out same as the others; they weren't confident of their abilities from last year and wanted to make sure that the team got the best lineup possible. It was for this reason that the entirety of Gryffindor House had shown up for the tryouts; them along with several others that weren't exactly well received.

"All right, anyone not of Gryffindor or at least second year, please leave." Harry groaned as he rubbed his temples and watched about three quarters of the applicants shuffle off the field. Most of them were giggling girls from other houses fourth year and below, a few Gryffindor first years had turned up, but they moved off to sit with the rest of their house in the stands to watch and didn't look all that dejected at not being able to try out.

Katie chuckled next to him and smiled when he turned a baleful eye towards her. "Don't worry, Harry, they're just enthusiastic. I'm sure that it's the thrill of the game that brought them all out here and not your manly good looks." She dissolved into laughter at the roll of his eyes.

Harry turned from the senior member of the team and surveyed the rest of the Gryffindors arranged around the field in small groups. "Tell me again why I agreed to take on this position when you turned it down."

Katie patted him on the shoulder a little. "You're a good leader, Harry, the DA last year proved that. I didn't want the added stress with NEWTs coming up so you're the most senior member of the team." She broke off as there was a commotion near the back of the group. Ron and Ginny were pushing their way towards the front. Her face took on a small scowl. "Besides, if it wasn't you then we might have had to give it to the berk over there."

Harry rolled his eyes a little. "He thinks that he's a great strategist because of chess, but when it comes down to it, chess isn't life. The pieces on a board, while animated, still move in pre-determined places and don't have their own say in how things work; treating people like pawns on a board would be inhumane and rather evil."

The girl stared at him a little shrewdly for a moment before shaking her head. "Waxing poetic there, Harry. I would swear that you had some ulterior motive for saying all of that."

Harry shrugged as he hefted his Firebolt up onto his shoulder; the broom had been returned by McGonagall recently as well as the Captain's badge that now shone on his chest. "I guess I just feel that the Ministry and Voldemort are constantly moving around one another, as if it were nothing but a game to them, but life and death for their pawns." He shrugged again as his eyes swept over the group gathering on the field. "Let's get this over with."

Katie giggled a little more, but acquiesced to his request. She started to separate out those hopefuls that wanted to go for chaser positions on the team. It had been decided that because Alicia and Katie would be working non-stop this year that having a few back-ups wasn't a bad idea. The girls had asked Harry for his opinion and he agreed that having a full back-up team that would practice with the first line-up would be an ideal solution given how many times in the past he had been laid out in the hospital wing at the end of the year. To this end, she was going to pick out the best of the chasers to join the team and then have three others as a reserve to the three stars.

"Can I have your attention?" Harry's voice was clear and confident and made most of the crowd quiet down immediately. The one's that kept on talking were people like MacLaggen and Ron and Ginny. "We're going to be building a whole new team this year as well as a reserve team for injuries." He waved his arms and pointed to three different places staked out around the field with flapping red flags. "Chaser hopefuls are to go with Katie. Beaters to the left, Keepers to the right and Seekers up the middle there. Each group is going to be tested individually and then once we have a chaser lineup we're going to be doing some intense drills for the beaters and keepers."

The people started to break up into the groups that he had outlined, but there were a few that seemed to be trying to decide between which group they wanted to be in. Some of the Seeker hopefuls were looking at the chasers while the beaters were looking at the keepers. It was obvious that some of the tryouts were going to take a little longer than the others. Ginny immediately shuffled off towards the chasers with Katie positioning herself just in front of the girl so that it wouldn't seem like she was challenging her, while at the same time being intimidating in her own right.

Ever since the prank that Harry and the girls had pulled on the Weaseleys they had been rather quiet and glaring at people more and more. Bulstrode had come back to her senses the next day and had avoided looking at Ginny for most of the day and throughout the rest of the week. It was obvious that the large girl was rather embarrassed about the entire thing, but she would never broach the topic on her own with Ginny or with anyone. Some of Harry's girls had mentioned the possibility of talking it over with the girl to making inroads into Slytheirn with Rachel at the head. The girl had already had some brief conversations with Draco and was helping him along with his new head of house details, so chatting up Bulstrode wouldn't look suspicious.

Harry's eyes searched up through the stands towards the top of them where Hermione was sitting. She gave a small smile and thumbs up as encouragement. Claire and Rachel were sitting next to her under the invisibility cloak for protection and for support of Harry. The two girls being of different houses wouldn't have been able to sit through Gryffindor tryouts without some flack coming from those around them, but they had insisted that they be there to support Harry as well as cheer on Cassie as she was trying out for a chaser spot. The girl in question was busy blowing bubbles with some pink gum while hovering on her broom with the others around her setting up for some quick drills with Katie.

A bludger whizzed past Harry's ear, his reflexes only just saving his shoulder from being impacted. He twisted out of the way of the red ball as it hurled past him. The others had seemingly stopped what they were doing to watch what was happening to the Captain on the field. The second bludger was now coming out of the air and headed for Harry as well; some people were having flashbacks to the second year Harry had been on the team and the jinxed bludger then. This time, however, Harry was prepared and easily dodged the red ball while rolling down onto his Firebolt and dropping a few inches towards the ground. Once Harry was on the broom it shot across the field with the two balls in hot pursuit on his tail.

The broom, under Harry's hand, easily banked to the left and then the right. The bludgers were following him precisely and easily flowed from one move to the next. Harry didn't bother to look back as the gasps and groans from the crowd were enough. He was now skimming the grass with the tips of his shoes as he turned quickly and put the front of the broom facing upwards at a near ninety degree angle. The broom seemed to hover there for a moment as if in indecision before it shot upwards with enough force that the grass around the launching was actually flattened. The bludgers paused only a moment before spiraling upwards towards the speeding bullet of Harry Potter. Both red balls shot past Harry for a moment as he dropped his speed unexpectantly.

The balls twisted in the air and then started to flank the seeker. Instead of going forward and still upward, Harry twisted along the broom lying almost sideways as the bludgers shot over his head and nearly impacted each other. While the balls were distracted for the moment by each other's movements he pushed the top of the boom downward back towards the field and more specifically at the small section of students trying out for the beater spots. The students all gasped as Harry Potter seemed to almost fall from the sky, pushing his broom well past what could have been possible nearly straight back down at the ground.

In reality his angle of descent was curved slightly towards the students. It took a moment for a few of them to realize what was going on and start to scatter rather quickly. A few of them took to the air on their brooms while four remained on the ground and palmed beater's bats into their hands. They formed up in pairs facing off towards them with a small space between each pair. As Harry shot downwards towards them he started to push the broom harder and faster. As he neared the ground he turned upward slightly and turned to the side, letting his robes flap slightly as it skimmed across the grass.

Harry's trajectory actually worked out rather well as he had aimed for the space between the two pairs of beaters standing on the field. With scant inches to spare he slipped between the two pairs, his hair brushing against the legs of the three boys and one girl. All four of them didn't pay attention to his passing, however as they gripped the beater's bats even harder. The wind of Harry's passing ruffled their robes a little, but they were resolute in standing firm and watching the coming of the bludgers. True to form they came down out of the sky and tried to follow Harry's descent through the two pairs of students.

Two resounding cracks sounded like thunder. The first was slightly faster than the second as the second had gotten past the first beater on the left-hand side. Both beaters had swung their bats at the same time, but the bludger on the left had slipped past just by a hair and was caught by the second one standing just behind the first. Both bludgers went spinning off into the air at a velocity only slightly slower than what they had come in on. They went out about a hundred meters and seemed to be circling back around for another shot at the people on the ground.

"Stop!" Harry's voice was echoing around the stadium from behind the beaters. He had pulled up before hitting the wall behind them and was now hovering just in front of the Hufflepuff stands. To everyone's amazement the two bludgers seemed to freeze in mid-air at his raised command.

"What the bloody hell are you playing at, Potter?" Cormac McLaggen, one of the tryouts for keeper was picking himself up off the grass and dusting himself off. Some of the others were voicing their own discontent with the display.

Harry simply smiled and sent up a silent thank you to the stands where Hermione could be seen with white cheeks, but a large smile on her face. He turned back to address the others on the field as well as the four that had stood up to the bludgers. "I wanted a real game scenario to test the beaters on and it seemed to have worked." He smiled at the fifth year boy and seventh year girl that had both smacked the bludgers. "If you two wish to be on the team, the spot should be your's." He turned to the other two that had also stood up, but didn't get the chance at the bludgers. "You two will be the reserves if you're willing."

Katie cut off a lot of the grumbling of the others that had wanted to try out. "If that were a real game and all you did was duck then you would have been creamed. Harry was right, you all had an equal opportunity to go after those bludgers and only four of you stood to take on the challenge. If the rest of you don't like it, you can try out for chaser or keeper instead."

There was still some grumblings, but the smiles on some faces were more encouraging. The Gryffindors in the stands seemed to be talking about the unorthodox tryout with some enthusiasm as it seemed to produce some amazing beaters in the four that were chosen. This had the effect of making the chaser tryouts more interesting as well. Katie took them through a few basic drills to start with and was disappointed that she had to drop nearly half of the number of hopefuls for their abysmal flying during even the smallest exercises. She begrudgingly had to admit that Ginny was a good flyer and might make a good addition to either the team or the reserves.

Cassie was also a good hopeful to have on the chaser squad. She showed some promise early on with the drills as well as later when more of the creative exercises came up. Katie had devised an interesting drill over the summer that involved a formation of the beaters hitting bludgers back and forth forming a near solid wall of protection and the chaser had to get through it. Ordinarily this would be accomplished easily by moving up or down as well as side to side, but with the four beaters now operating together they were a flurry of bats and bludgers from one side to the other. Cassie was the most creative in getting around the bludgers when she tossed the quaffle through the flurry and then dropped almost to the ground in a spiral pattern that kept the beaters confused long enough for her to retrieve the quaffle on the other side.

"Your friend is doing rather well." Katie remarked to Harry while they hovered a little off to the side. They had decided to watch from afar with some of the exercises as the chaser tryouts were going against the keepers. "I hate to admit it, but Weasley isn't all that bad."

"Please tell me you're talking about Ginny and not Ron." Harry waved his hand over to where Ron was attempting to block the hoops. The redhead had started out well enough, concentrating on the ball, but then he had fallen apart letting five of the next shots through.

Katie giggled a little and shook her head. "Unfortunately Cormac is looking the best of the keepers, although his attitude might be a real issue."

Harry groaned as well and looked to the other end of the field where the burly seventh year was yelling instructions to both the chasers and the scared fourth year that was in front of the hoops. "If I didn't think that I would get caught, I might consider simply cursing the stupid prat."

Katie smiled coyly and slipped her wand into her hand from somewhere up her sleeve. "What do you think, stunner, bruising hex, maybe even a little vomiting curse?"

Harry chuckled as he shook his head. "It would have to be something not all very obvious. If he's injured by a curse then there will be an investigation. I would rather not loose my starting chaser so soon into the season."

Katie was tapping her chin with her finger when Cormac seemed to slip sideways a little on his broom. It wasn't enough by itself, but at the same time one of the beaters had smashed a bludger from the other end of the field where they had been practicing with some of the chaser tryouts. The bludger hit had been powerful enough that it moved straight past the other beater and clobbered McLaggen on the side. The seventh year started to tip sideways in pain and seemed to hang in the air for a moment before two others had flown up and tried to get him down to the ground.

Harry palmed his face as the two chasers helped McLaggen to the ground and then off the field. "I guess that takes care of that problem. Don't suppose you had anything to do with it?" He looked pointedly at Katie.

She scowled back at him and waved her wand under his nose. "I didn't have anything to do with it. Seemed he just got distracted." Her eyes were scanning the stands for a moment. "It's possible that someone had the same idea that we did about getting rid of him."

Harry nodded back towards where Ron was missing another shot by the chasers. "The problem is that right now Ron is the best keeper we've got, unless someone else takes a stand."

Katie winced as she watched the red head dive in the completely opposite direction from the shot by the third year chaser hopeful. "It's sad, isn't it? He's probably the worst I've ever seen, but with McLaggen out he is the best we've got on the field."

"We need someone with good reflexes and who wouldn't be scared to take a hit. Think any of your chasers might be better as keeper?" Harry leaned forward on the broom a little, letting it hover as he looked over the field spread out below them. The seekers had been tasked with finding small objects on the field and were combing the grass for them while the chasers were still in the air taking shots at the keepers and making passes to one another.

"There's a few possibilities, but I'm not really sure." Katie pointed out three of the chasers that were closer to the hoops than the others. "They haven't move around that much, but they've got some real power in their throws and seem to be the best at moving among the bludgers."

Harry was nodding a little as he tried to focus on what was going on around the field. His mind was wandering as he idly slid sideways and did a small barrel roll in mid-air. Coming back up there was a small grin on his face. Turning to Katie she groaned at the look on his face. "I know that look; it's the same that you had when you asked Hooch if she would charm the bludgers for you."

Harry chuckled as he quickly scanned the people still sitting down on the grass. "Did the bludgers come anywhere near your chasers or the seekers when they had shot off?"

Katie shook her head while she kept her eyes on the ground as well as partially paying attention to those that were still in the air. "I don't think so, most of them just scattered and didn't seem to have any goal in mind at the time." She shook her head. "We have to face facts, Harry, those that came to try out simply aren't cut out to be keepers."

"Then we have to find those that didn't bother to come try out." He lifted his head and scanned the crowd, quickly finding Hermione again. Her eyes were fearful from the last stunt that he had pulled, but there was a determined glint in her eye as she scanned the grass. She seemed to have come to something similar to him as she gave a small pain filled wince and a nod. "Last chance, Katie, anyone you can think of in your year or any other that might be able to take over as keeper?"

Katie groaned and chewed on a piece of her hair that was whipping about her face. It was a nervous and thoughtful technique that Harry had noticed of the dark haired chaser early on in his Quidditch career. "All right, Thomas and Longbottom might be all right in the hoops if you can get them to get over their fear of flying. Woodman from my year isn't bad, but his reaction time is horrible."

Harry scanned the benches high in the air and could easily spot his two roommates. They were both sitting up near Hermione and talking with her about something while pointing wildly down towards the pitch. It seemed that they were talking about Ron and Ginny as the two would point out the two gingers and then turn to say something to the other. Harry angled his broom upwards towards the small trio of friends and pushed himself in that direction; he didn't move incredibly fast even for his broom as he wanted to keep an eye on the rest of the tryouts even while he had his small talk with his friends.

"Looking good out there, Potter." Dean was smiling a little and holding a thumbs up. He was seated next to Neville so that they could both watch the match. Dean's eyes, however kept flitting back towards the pitch where Ginny was dodging bludgers.

"Feeling good, Thomas." Harry preened a little in mid-air as he hovered before the stands.

Neville gave a chuckle as he shook his head. "I'll never understand you sports nuts. It's crazy going out there like that." He waved his hand down at the pitch.

Harry chuckled. "Funny you should say that, Neville." He hovered a little ways out as he shouted louder so that everyone in the stands could hear him. "To any of you that might have been paying attention, our prospects for keeper aren't all that great." There were some mummers of dissent, but their neighbors only had to point at where Ron was dodging to the left while a quaffle sailed above him to get them to quiet down. "I'm asking anyone, and I do mean anyone, that has even a passing interest in the game, to get involved." His eyes swept over the stands while those in them were squirming in their seats. "It's a matter of house pride now. We've kept that trophy in McGonagall's office for years, should it be this year that it gets taken away….by Snape? Anyone who stands up now will be able to tell those younger next year that they were the one's that had the courage to stand for their house. Anyone who stands up now to be heard will be, your voice will count and you will be involved in the team, this I promise you."

There was a cheer that swept through some of the crowd, others were still grumbling about having to try out. Several had already started to swarm out onto the pitch to borrow brooms from friends. "Pretty good speech, Prime Minister Potter." Claire's voice came floating out of the thin air next to Hermione.

Hermione giggled a little and put a hand to her mouth. "You made it sound like we're going to war."

Harry shrugged as he saw Katie start to sort the new hopefuls into groups for the rest of the tryouts. "I suppose in a way we are. The Slytherins are outfitted with some of the best brooms that money can buy, and we'll need strong fliers to get past them." He smiled as he blew a kiss to the three girls in the stands, two invisible. "Just don't go giving away any of our secrets now."

Hermione was biting her lip a little, lost in thought. "Harry, did you mean what you said about everyone getting involved?"

Harry nodded slowly as he tried to see where she was going with it. "Of course, I think that it's rather narrow minded that this is the only sport that the school offers and only a handful of people get to participate. It's why I want almost a full reserve team this year to help practice as well as play if the time comes." He leaned forward on his broom a little and fixed Hermione with a stare. "Are you enlisting?"

Hermione threw her hands in the air and they could hear a stifled giggle from her left. "All right. Maybe with me more involved I won't have to bite my finger nails watching you out there nearly killing yourself."

Harry spun around to watch the rest of the practice as he smiled. "I think you should get together a few strategists, Hermione and see what they can come up with in terms of plays. Katie and I have drills for practice and our own ideas, but it would be nice to get some outside opinions."

"And it would get more of the house involved in the game. Very clever." Katie had sidled up near him as they watched the rest of the hopefuls in the hoops. Neville was on a shaky broom, but he was keeping track of the quaffle rather easily as it was passed from chaser to chaser.

"You heard?" He raised an eyebrow at his chaser as she smiled at him from a few feet above and to the left.

"Probably not the most inspiring of speeches, but it did get many of them moving." Katie smiled. "What was your alternative plan? I saw that look you had in your eye, it was the same that you had when you went to get Madam Hooch to charm the bludgers."

Hermione gasped behind them and glared at their backs while she put her hands on her hips. "oooh…you are in so much trouble, Potter."

Harry laughed and waved Hermione off. "My original plan was to use some fancy animation charms. We've got some old dueling dummies that we used last year in the DA. I was thinking that we could animate one and put it in Gryffindor robes on a broom between the hoops." He waved his hand at where Ron was falling off his broom a few feet from the ground. "It probably would have been better than Weasley anyway."

**A/N: I know that many of you have written about my mysterious characters and my rather "annoying habit" of not stating names. Sorry. I use it to build suspense, but a lot of you should notice that in the beginning of this chapter that no one is names for a good reason. No one in the council knows each other's names and so there are no names to give. I will warn you now that I plan on utilizing the council scene a few more times, but there will be more information added into it in later chapters. So stay tuned, you might figure it out before I get there.**

**A/N 2: Yes, I borrowed a few ideas from several good movies. They're not really mine, but I do love them.**


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